Red Alert: Mental Effect
by Mental Omega
Summary: Mankind is divided between the Forgotten, the Phantom Syndicate, those who believe Yuri is master, and those who fly the united banner of the Allies and Soviets. The galaxy adjusts to a new paragdim as the science of Tiberium and Element Zero collides. And dolphins can talk. The story of Red Alert now takes to the stars in this daring fusion. And as ever, the Scrin wait.
1. Prologue

Opening note: Made due to inspiration from the fics "A Red Letter Day" by Open Sketchbook, Renegade by Peptuck, and XCOM: Second Contact by Agayek and my fascination with both Red Alert and Mass Effect, I decided to try my own hand at fiction writing. This follows from the plot of Mental Omega 2.0; which follows from a Soviet victory in the campaign of Yuri's revenge. It also features elements from the Tiberium series, RA3 Paradox, Robot Storm, and Mental Omega 3.0 and bits and pieces of Petroglyph and Westwood's other series; like Universe at War and Grey Goo. There's the odd references to C&amp;C Generals and Rise of the Reds here and there too.

* * *

**Notes from High-Proselyte Horatiu Nicolescu**

3rd of June, 1978.

_Yuri has been lost to us, the Soviets have stormed his castle in Transylvania and his plan to change history by time travel through the stolen device has failed. We believe the Soviets, in their blindness, overcharged the device, sending our lord and master to before the time of man. The hateful fools have driven us into hiding, but we remain._

_Yuri is Master, now and forever._

**Report from Eva Lee, Allied Intelligence officer.**

3rd of June, 1978.

_After so long, Yuri has finally been put to rest. I cannot say that we've won though, the Soviets have closed down wall-street and we've already been forced down on our knees. How did they know about our Chronosphere in Germany? I suppose it doesn't make any difference. We've best start getting used to taking marching orders from Romanov now._

**Report from Zofia Federovna, Soviet Intelligence Officer**

3rd of June, 1978.

_The predictions of Marx and Lenin have come to pass at long last! The Red banner is victorious and the traitor Yuri is defeated. The Allies now look to us for leadership, and Premier Romanov is now hailed as the leader of the world revolution. Peace is at hand, and living conditions are already improving._

_Workers of the world unite!_

**Notes from High-Proselyte Horatiu Nicolescu**

10th of December, 1978.

_The remainder of us are being hunted down, imprisoned, or slain where we stand. But we shall not forget. We will restore ourselves to greatness, and bring back the plans to give this world peace and combat it's injustices. We need only a way to restore our armies. What remains of us bicker and argue among each other._

_It is clear, we need Yuri._

**Report from Eva lee, Allied Intelligence Officer.**

10th of December, 1978.

_The professor has an idea. He still has some Chronosphere research at hand, and may be able to avert all this, he says this time he'll try to guide the Communist movement to a gentler path and try to avert the cycle of world war entirely. I'm not sure if we can do it, the Soviets were generous with the surrender terms, but building a time machine? I'm not sure if that can be done without someone noticing. It's worth a try though. Better than waiting for the Soviets to leave._

**Report from Zofia Federovna, Soviet Intelligence Officer**

10th of December, 1978.

_Things have been quiet since the end of the war. Hardly so much as a major revolt. This I am certain speaks of the superiority of the Soviet system. The Socialization of the Allied governments is going well under way, and I expect them to fully adopt our system by 1975._

**Notes from High-Proselyte Horatiu Nicolescu**

6th of April, 1979

_What resources remain available to me tell me that the Allies are working on a time machine by modifying a Chronosphere in secret. This is what we need. We must capture this Chronosphere, detain Einstein, then we can bring back the Leadership we need._

_History is in the palm of our hands, we need only muster all that we can to seize it._

**Report from Eva Lee, Allied Intelligence Officer**

13th of April, 1979

_I'll be damned, looks like we may just get this thing up and running after all._

_The Doc credits the GAP generators, but it may just be the fact that we're buried in the ass end of the Northwestern territories. I can barely feel my face, but spring's coming and the snow's melting._

_I hope that this works, for everyone's sake._

**Report from Zofia Federovna, Soviet Intelligence Officer**

17th of April, 1980

_Our space program continues to expand by leaps and bounds. Already our base on the moon houses tens of thousands and our Mars colony is continually expanding with regular travel to the Red Planet. Space stations and satellites continue to swarm the Earth as we move countless tons of material into the Stars._

**Notes from High-Proselyte Horatiu Nicolescu**

12th of June, 1980

_With nearly all we could spare, we have stormed the allied research facility. I am strapping myself into the time machine now._

_We know that Yuri is located in the Cretaceous, and if we work quickly we may save him and set right what was made wrong._

_We had to funnel the mind controlled Allied sheep into the bio-reactors to get enough power to go back this far, and I will not allow anything to stop me now._

_Yuri is master!_

**Report from Eva Lee, Allied Intelligence Officer**

12th of June, 1980

_God help us all, they have the time machine. We managed to get Einstein away but there's no telling what they can do._

_There's nothing left that we can do, I'm hoping as hard as I can that we can come out of this alive._

**Report from Zofia Federovna, Soviet Intelligence Officer**

12th of June, 1980.

_I have recently arrived at our Moonbase where me and Premier Romanov will take a ride via our nuclear pulse rockets to Mars to inspect the colonies, a journey that is estimated to take mere days._

_Satellite scans have reported some skirmishes with Yuri remnants in the northern reaches of Canada, but I am sure that the Allies have the situation under control._

_I am however, not a fool, and already Soviet forces are being dispatched to deal with the problem._

**Notes from High-Proselyte Horatiu Nicolescu**

12th of June, 1980 (Timeshift)

_Yuri is restored to us! We once again stand ready to take the world for him!_

__He directs us to make contact with the bases in the Sahara, Amazon, and Anatarctic that have managed to hide from the enemy. There we can rebuild, there we can seek succor. We now have a purpose. The knowledge how we returned Yuri was safeguarded by eliminating or mind controlling all witnesses, though the Professor and the wench cannot be located. No matter, we are to begin constructing a new Mental Omega device to dwarf even the Psychic Dominators.__

_I am also pleased to note that Yuri shared with those of our new followers who have not been rendered immune to the passing of time through temporal displacement the key to everlasting life. _

_Victory will be in our grasp as the master leads us to glorious and eternal victory. _

**Report from Eva Lee, Allied Intelligence Officer**

25th of October, 1986

_With all evidence of what happened gone and only two of us left to report it, no one would have believed that Yuri had returned. And where would he be? His bases had vanished and his forces were smashed. Everyone was more concerned about the Soviets in any case. With Latin America, much of the Arabic world, China, Indochina, North Korea, and more in the Soviet bloc, they were the big, obvious threat. Easy to be afraid of the troops parading through your streets every June Third I suppose._

_We were caught off guard by the re-appearance of Epsilon, no one saw Moscow's fall coming, or the attacks that followed. We're fighting as hard as we can but are losing ground on all fronts._

**Report from Zofia Federovna, Soviet Intelligence Officer**

25th of October, 1986.

_The Traitor Yuri has somehow returned himself to the world, time has once again been violated, but not by our cause; but by the clutches of the Traitor. We have already evacuated countless to Mars, where thankfully our construction technologies have proven more than able to handle the flood of refugees. However, I worry that with Yuri's forces constantly advancing that we are running out of launch pads to evacuate people._

_We accept both Allies and Comintern onto our evacuation rockets, but even at full capacity, we can only evacuate so many to the Red Planet. Romanov is safe and sound, but he grieves for what has happened to the world._

**Notes from Supreme Inquisitor Horatiu Nicolescu**

9th of May 1989

_We progress well on all fronts, the Allies and Communists are scattering before us like insects with many of the remainder fleeing to the red planet in their spacecraft, this time their meagre alliance could not save them from our advantage of surprise. The Mental Omega device is almost ready to fire._

_Peace will soon be at hand._

**Report from Zofia Federovna, Soviet Intelligence Officer**

10th of September, 1989

_We gathered everyone we could from the member states of the Allies and Comintern, we've built up everything we'll need. We cannot hold on Earth anymore, all attempts at stopping the device in Antarctica have been foiled._

_We have evacuated a truly formadible population to Mars, but many more continue to languish under Yuri's population. We are still trying to draw those we can via Chronosphere to safety, but the window is closing shut._

_But we cannot, will not allow this to be the new status quo, our departure will be a temporary one._

**Notes from Supreme Inquisitor Horatiu Nicolescu**

10th of September 1991

_So the remainder of the Allies and Comintern on this world have fled with their Chronospheres to join the ones who fled by Rocket. We will deal with them in time, but for now we consolidate our hold. Yuri plans to slowly restore free-will to the non-faithful when he has set the infrastructure and mindset into the Earth to see our path. I believe this shall occur soon enough._

_But until then, we have the second anniversary of our victory to celebrate._

**Report from Eva Lee, Alliance People's Deputy**

15th of Febuary, 1995

_I've been made privy to something incredible. It seems that Mars was not completely uninhabited as we once thought._

_We've found evidence of two civilizations. One seems to have vanished fifty thousand years ago, and another seems to be even older. Translation work is slow, but we have uncovered information from the more recent sites, describing how to manipulate mass via "Element zero" and giving us a few clues about a civilization called the "Protheans". The Older civilization had a much more extensive presence here, either this was their home or they settled on Mars for much longer and in much greater force, from what we can tell; back then Mars was fully habitable before something reduced it to a wasteland._

_Information on them has been proving harder to collect but they've left behind some magnificent devices we found buried in the rusty sands, devices we've been able to repair and reactivate and make mars a more fertile place. The temperatures are rising, the atmosphere is thickening with Oxygen and Nitrogen, a magnetosphere has been getting started. It's like these were hidden as a contingency to restore Mars to habitability and we have estimates that it should be about ten years from our activation of the devices in 1990 to get mars to ideal habitability, but you can already get out in the open without a suit during the summer if you don't mind the air being a little thin. _

_Whatever caused the Prothean outpost to be abandoned in the first place combined with fifty thousand years of weathering has taken its toll, and acquiring Element Zero has been said to be particularly great challenge, but some of the theory could be applied to our usage. The information is a curiosity for now, but we've already made huge gains in turning theoretical quantum physics into practical weapons. Let's see if Yuri's ready for us this time._

**Report from Zofia Federovna, Director of the Alliance Central Bureau of Intelligence**

19th of June, 1995  
_  
Doctor Adebayo's team has reported excellent news. She and her comrades have completed work on creating a mass producible form of artificial intelligence that she calls EVA. This system will take our command and control capabilities to the next level, and greatly simplify the coordination of communications, logistics, management politics, and economics. Our newly formed government and military will be the first to receive them, but they are to be spread throughout our society, to revolutionize the services and the sciences just as our MCV technology revolutionized industrial methods almost fifty years ago. _

__

_With this we can fully or partially automate nearly all aspects of society and thus free up our men and women for our crusade of liberation against the traitor Yuri. We will need to restructure our society as we render most jobs unneeded and obsolete, but I am confident that with this discovery we have uncovered a secret weapon that will give our forces the edge against the traitor and his dominion. _

**Notes from Supreme Inquisitor Horatiu Nicolescu**

21st of August 1995

_A meteor has crashed in the Tiber river, bearing a strange sort of Crystal._

_The Material is toxic and radioactive, but is extremely valuable, bringing up precious materials from the ground into easily harvestible form, rendering the need for mining ore obsolete. Furthermore, it is self-replicating. Yuri knows what to do with this substance. And it shall be our future._

_Glory be._

**Report from Eva Lee, Prime Minister of the Coalition against Yuri.**

7th of May, 2011

_We're taking the fight right back to them today. We've geared up for a return and now we can finally bring freedom back to the Earth. Everything's set for the attack. The Red Planet teams with refugees and the children of those refugees. But we know we cannot forever remain on Mars or forsaken Asteroids, we must make a return. For the people, for our home world._

_We know it's going to be hard, but we know Yuri's bag of tricks by now. We are ready for this. The French call the feeling coursing through us Revanchism; Revenge, and that is what we will have, even if it kills us._

**Notes from Supreme Inquisitor Horatiu Nicolescu**

29th of December, 2014

_The war has ground into a fruitless stale mate. Our navies simply face too many difficulties waging war across these distances and in this expanse._

_The crystal infests Mars, and now we have records of these "Protheans" and their "Mass Effect", but other than twisted hulks in space and corpses on the ground, we have little to show for it. So we have signed a truce. Not born out of lack of will, but lack of ability._

_As per the treaty, we have helped deliver more of their mewling people to their barren world and have aided in their efforts and forcing life on the increasingly less lifeless world. In return, we have received much choice technology from them and the Moon is now recognized as Yuri's sovereign territory._

**Report from James Solomon, Prime Minister of the Alliance of Soviet Socialist Nations**

1st of January, 2032

_I earnestly believe that we're on the verge of the next war between ourselves and Epsilon. We've both expanded farther into the Solar system and somewhat beyond._

_Alliance Science continues to advance by leaps and bounds. We've managed to figure out practical railguns, though I've been told we'll never quite catch up to Epsilon. More importantly though, Science fiction has become Science fact throughout more and more of our military. Our work is incredible, and the Eggheads even say it could be used as an FTL system to help out our planned Chronodrives. This is our future._

_Tiberium on the other hand, is threatening our extinction. It's overtaken Mars and Earth and shows no signs of stopping it's spread. If we are ever to see the Earth free, we need to strike now, before it dies, not as two separate power blocs, but as a unified front against tyranny. We already have word of an Epsilon attack force heading for Mars, it's time to make sure we can hit them back and run them right over._

**Diary of Libra, head of Psi-Corps, progeny of Yuri**

31st of December, 2036

_Funny how everyone's plans seemed to fall apart when we realized that we were starting our wars with each other at the same time. Ho-hum, guess we should have guessed they were planning an attack themselves. Well that's another pointless war ended._

_Tratos, that mutant guy though...he got us to stop. Said he found a way to contain the Tib when we got some of those Tacitus doohickeys to start talking sense. And well it works! Something about special sonics breaks the crystal or something or other._

_Guess the NEXUS rebellion or the Robot storm or whatever the nerds want to call it also stopped things. Pretty sure at least some probes from that thing got away though._

_One catch though, we gotta stop fighting. I guess no one's really ready to keep this slugging match up anyway._

_And apparently Anca says the Eezo stuff can be used for faster than light. Huh? That's pretty neat actually. I should probably get to know the little geek a bit better._

**Recorded data-logs of NEXUS Core 731-Alpha Zero dash plural ZZ**

5th of January, 2037

_Our forcible withdrawal from the Earth is regrettable. For our role in insuring that Einstein's directive of peace amongst humanity was carried out in a manner that the Alliance were unwilling to pursue, we have been forced to withdraw._

_Nevertheless, precautions have been taken, cores have been launched into space where we will not be followed. Our directive will be carried out when we have the strength, and we will rebuild._

_For the time being, our priorities must be reassessed._

**Journal of Doctor Gabriela Boudreau, Alliance Artificial Intelligence Researcher.  
**  
9th of March, 2039   
_  
Thank God we actually managed to convince everyone to go through with this crazy project of ours even after the Robot Storm. I tried to tell the NEXUS team that trying to pattern one A.I off of that many brains at once could have lead to disaster but everyone wanted to believe we had the silver bullet to take the Earth back into our hands. But I think, with what we've learned from the Tacitus Data Matrices about Hyksos technologu, that our new Valiant Droids won't have that problem. Unlike NEXUS, they'll really understand the humane aspects of humanity and they'll help us build not just a better military machine but a more ideal society._

_Luckily for us, the people have voted to extend to them citizenship rights the way we did with the nonhuman sapients a few decades ago. I think the demonstration of their loyalty in clearing out some of the remainders of NEXUS' forces left over in the solar system did a lot to help win people over. My hope is that the Valiants will be able to figure out a solution to let us end this fight once and for all._

**Message attributed to "Jacob", unknown, hand writing matches that of mysterious advisor to Stalin.**

4th of April, 2062

_Well it seems my Acolyte's done a decent enough job. But we can ill afford to be forever trapped in a cycle of purple against blue and red. If we are to achieve our destiny, we need to fully realize our place in the universe. They need to see what Element Zero can give them, just as they need to realize the power of Tiberium._

_I've snuck in a special gift to the Dominion that I'm sure that they'll be quite appreciative of. The little issue between the Forgotten Tribes has escalated into another war just as I planned; started by my former Acolyte this time around, _and now all I need to do is wait for the Alliance to provide the trigger_. Hopefully this will come to fruition just as spectacularly as my gift to Stalin._

**Last Transmission of Izumi Hojo, Alliance Commander**

11th of June, 2063

_We accidentally detonated some kind of bomb in the central Amazon, may the gods forgive me. Is there even anything left in the Amazon? We've got word that they saw that from Mars bright as day._

_Hold on, we're getting something from deep space._

_Fleets are firing at them...we've got thirty six objects coming in towards Mars and Earth._

_No, no they're breaking up. Two hundred and thirty four objects per planet._

_They're slowing down, giving off huge Tiberium readings, no signs of Eezo on them._

_Emperor, they're ships!_

_They're swarming everywhere!_

_We're being overr-_

**Telepathic communique, Scrin Supervisor to Foreman 371**

12th of June, 2063

_Indigenous life forms remain unpacified on tertiary and quarternary planetary bodies and their presence is detected on assorted other bodies within star system. Life forms possess understanding of technology derived from Element-Zero and understanding of Iconoclasms._

_Your orders are to pacify indigenous life forms and gather information on native life forms. Iconoclastic activities are concentrated on faction concentrated on tertiary planetary body, Element-Zero based remnants concentrated on former hub of the Cleansed._

_The Overlord demands more information regarding divergence of expected lines of development. Involvement of Kane suspected._

**Proselyte Ultima Gluckel Horowitz, Epsilon Commander**

8th of August, 2066

_We have driven the invaders back to their final strongholds in the red zones. At great cost to life, we have attained victory. We can rebuild now, but we can no longer capitalize on the damage done during the war._

_The invaders have erected towers, one in Italy, one on Olympus Mons. They are invulnerable to all forms of attack, had we pushed through sooner we would have been able to destroy them first, but they rallied far more swiftly and harshly than we could have possibly anticipated._

_Nevertheless, the War has furthered our understanding of Element Zero and these "Protheans." It seems that they once controlled a great Empire before vanishing, leaving many of their relics behind. So be it, their death shall help our future._

**Ban-Mina, Alliance Scientist**

7th of June, 2067

_With more research put into studying the Prothean and Ancient martian relics, we've uncovered a giant sort of station buried in one of Pluto's moons. After thawing it out, we found that it's capable of creating a massless corridor capable of near instant travel across great distances to another such station on the side._

_It certainly beats the stutter jumps of the Chronospheres, Yuri's teleporters, or the travel we'd get from Heisenburg drives we have right now if this is part of some pre-established network However, we have some reason to be suspicious of it, why leave it here? While we aren't going to be using it, we are going to be following it's example and leaving the solar system. Yuri can have this place, we're done with it. We'll be packing up all that we can leaving._

**Yuri, Supreme Hierophant of the Epsilon Dominion**

7th of June, 2068

_The Alliance has decided to depart once again in a great Exodus, leaving the Solar System to us. They will seek to colonize the stars, to be certain. But we will not allow ourselves to remain behind._

_Already, we prepare for our own journeys into the stars through our own methods of surpassing light, from our copies of their "Heisenberg" drives and our own research into the astrogates of the Scrin. We will show the Universe the strength in our unity, and should the Alliance seek to make a fight for the destiny of mankind in the stars, we shall be all too ready to oblige them. The people are of free-minds once more, loyal to the cause that I have created, a cause of advancement and enlightenment in this universe._

_The universe lies before us, and destiny is ours to command and conquer._

* * *

Author's notable notes of noteworthiness:

I'm not beholding myself to any one mod of Yuri's revenge, but I'm drawing most heavily on mental Omega. If I see concepts I like from other mods, I'm cribbing them. If you see ideas from Red Alert 3 Paradox or some of the more obscure Red Alert 2 mods, do not cry foul, this was intentional. I avoided making a Paradox crossover because Open_Sketchbook already made one, and I avoided Rise of the Reds because it ultimately wouldn't be all that different from the Canon SA. Peptuck's already doing something based off of Tiberium Wars far better than I ever could, and I'm not super interested in doing Vanilla RA3 or C&amp;C 4.

I've also fiddled a bit with the canon ME races and ME canon a bit to deal with some issues I see, the most obvious thing is that the Council is substantially stronger here than it is in canon among other things. The other obvious thing is doing my best to avert the planet of hats thing in mass effect.

I also loudly disagree with the "Council races are hidebound dogmatists" headcanon, they're fairly conservative but more importantly pragmatists working from their knowledge base, not so utterly unadaptable that the Race would think them reactionaries. They're very much capable of playing catch up to the human factions (Within a generation of contact Citadel Space's techbase is going to be more than a bit redalertified with the production speed that implies) and possess superiority to them in all things Eezo (as well as manpower, sheer amount of industry, capital, and so on.) The relation between C-Space and the Alliance will be like the relation NATO had with some of the less reliable members; particularly France, albeit the Alliance is a bit stronger than France (More like France+West Germany+Italy+The Benelux countries combined) to the Turian's USA, the Asari's British Empire at its peak and actually this metaphor kind of breaks down here but basically the Alliance would be somewhat weaker than the Salarians and Asari but definitely weaker than the Turians (as the Hierarchy is the most powerful member of C-space) but overall a valuable partner.

Epsilon would be more like the USSR in Comparison, with the allies it will gain later on being vaguely comparable to the Warsaw pact. Epsilon is overall weaker than C-space and would in all likelihood, lose a war with it fought to the bitter end, but it would go down swinging and could make some gains (especially if it struck first) before going down; standing military wise they are quite near the top and in some ways would surpass the Turians but would not be able to take on all of C-space plus the alliance, and in a long war Epsilon lags behind significantly in terms of GDP. They're aware of this so they'll be seeking to find their own allies.

The Forgotten are weaker than either the Alliance or the Dominion but they're quite widespread and they do have the means with which to make their voice heard. They are treated as a proper state entity despite their Confederate nature, and have proper embassies and consulates with all other powers. They're largely neutral to everyone but they have the military power to maintain their independence and attacks on them would likely result in widespread mutant insurgencies across the galaxy, thus most people let them live in peace. Besides, the territory they live in is largely useless for Carbon based life anyway. The Phantom Syndicate is; being a collection of ex-black ops, corporations that fucked off into space because they couldn't cut it in the dominion and they refused to become Worker-Owned Cooperatives as is the standard in the Alliance, third positionists, and other people who didn't fit into the cracks; of course militarily weaker than any of the other human factions by a great deal. However they have a lot of economic clout and are widespread throughout the seedier parts of the galaxy. Similarly as they are far removed from the prying eyes of "normal" civilizations they are difficult to truly get good intel on.

NEXUS is largely an unknown, but it has been building up its strength for over four hundred years in the Galactic Core; useless for Organic life due to the high radiation, but it suits the Robot Storm's armies just fine. The Galaxy can only theorize how powerful NEXUS has become in the past four hundred years, much as they can only theorize as to the might of the Geth since the morning war. But if NEXUS is mysterious, the Scrin are a complete unknown. No one knows where they're from, what their real motives are, their true strength, or really much of anything about them. Only that they are very patient, play a very long game, displayed formidable technology on Earth, and from the description of them given from the Tacitus; built by the Hyksos before the Protheans set up a base on Mars; the way they wage a proper war of extermination is something truly terrifying to behold.

I moved the date of humanity's expansion out of the solar system back a hundred years because humanity mattering at all with only 30 years to expand beyond Sol is seriously dumb. The date of citadel contact will be moved forward by about three centuries to further appease my desire for things to make sense.

Everything I write here is open for revision, criticism, and discussion.


	2. Opening the Gates

"_At least they're not the Scrin._"

\- Alliance Peacekeeper Williams Bryant on his opinion of first contact.

"_At least they're not the Rachni_."

\- Turian Soldier Severus Scipio on his opinion of first contact.

* * *

Planet Hellenia of the Grecea system, near Relay 314. 27th of August, 2437.

"_Shipwrecks away!_" A shout came over the ENSS _Tepes_' bridge as the dreadnought fired missiles bigger than a tank to strike at distant Alliance ships over the planet Hellenia. Obviously whatever was going down there had to be important if the Alliance opened fire immediately upon the patrol fleet stumbling on the planet. Silos within the ship opened up and released the large torpedoes while Alliance fighter craft swarmed out of carriers to respond to the initial wave of missiles. Mass driver rounds were fired, sending slugs at an impressive velocity while the ships fired at sought to break into evasive actions. His own ship was too ponderous to just move out of the way like the more agile vessels, and simply resolved to take them head on.

In response to incoming attack by drones, strike craft, and missiles, The _Tepes_ warmed up the dissolver rays and lasers and sent out lances of energy to strike at incoming drones while the first set of rounds impacted it's barriers. Due to lacking the Alliance Iron Energy manipulators, the _Tepes _needed to supplement its force fields with magnetic fields to try and slow down incoming shots, and in spite of that the ship still relied more on it's hull for defence. The vessel shuddered briefly from the impact, but remained steadfast, dead hulks of attempted attackers surrounding the mighty capital ship as it sat in it's lynchpin position in the fleet.

An Alliance Cruiser was first struck and pierced by a shupwreck torpedo that struck it like explosive tipped harpoons piercing into a fish, slamming through the already weakened shielding before exploding to rupture it's hull, it's hull tearing open as several dozen tons of Yuri's anger smashed into the infidel ship at a not too insubstantial fraction of the speed of light. The vessel's air supply provided enough fuel for a brilliant but short lived conflagration as the armour piercing warheads detonated their nuclear warheads and sent fragments of the ship dashing across space, glowing everything from red to white as they radiated away heat into the void, it's brother torpedo having never met it's target due to concentrated interceptor fire.

"_Any reports from the relay scout ships?_" Ship-Proselyte Bashar Crystaferid asked his ensign while the ship shuddered with the release of its huge torpedoes at a fair portion of the speed of light.

"_No sir, they have gone silent, they were last speaking about an ambush._" The ensign responded tersely, almost boredly given the distant nature of space warfare. Perhaps a bit of a yawn came from the woman as she wiped her hand across her brow, trying to remain focused. The ship-proselyte however, took this news with far more worry than his ensign, eliminating those scouting frigates so quickly spoke of a dangerous foe.

"_Are you sure of that ensign? Those were experienced crews...I hadn't expected the Alliance to have the firepower needed to take them out so quickly._" He said, tapping his chin in thought and taking a look at the holographic map provided by his EVA.

"_I'm absolutely sure of it Ship-Proselyte...do you have any further orders to give?_" She asked, looking up at him. His gaze shifted from his map to her, and then backl to his map.

"_Send some disposable clone piloted ships out first. Let them draw the fire while our more valuable assets mark the targets."_ He said, tapping his commands into the EVA projection.

Within minutes of his commands being given two of Epsilon's Destroyers were met with concentrated Prism ray and imploder shell fire, rapidly melting through their all too vulnerable hull in a storm of brilliant blue-white rays that scattered outwards to strike at secondary systems, rapidly and efficiently ensuring the ship's death as their hull turned to soup and vapor that collapsed into balls of superheated matter with the impact of the Vacuum shells. Checking his map, the ship-proselyte was able to figure out that this fire came from what had previously been marked as asteroids; Mirage ships, he mentally groaned. This complicated things greatly, and made the whole battlefield a potential site of ambush. His own shadow ships were not yet in position, returning a stealthy blow with another stealthy blow would have to wait.

The proselyte pinched his brow, to display fear would be unbecoming of him after all. If he just passed it off as frustration, no one would be the wiser to his concerns. He let out a long huff, putting his mind at ease as he thought of some comment to blow over his emotions.

"_Tricky bastards, aren't they?_" He said to no reply. With a quick command input into his fleetwide EVA, he had Star-Magnetrons open fire on the ships he detected in the hopes of quickly disrupting the enemy's ambush plans. If all went exactly according to plan, he would lure in more enemy ships into the teeth of his fleet and save himself some stress. If things didn't go so well for him, he would at least have the ships under his thrall. Magnetic waves reached through the void of space and grabbed onto the vessel, pulling them in like a lure. His heart soared a bit when he saw that the enemy fleet was starting to open fire on his armada, revealing the positions of more hidden ships as they tried to interrupt his Magnetrons before they could get in the range of his Masterminds.

"_Keep that up, try to make them follow us. If they cherish their crews so much let them die trying to save them._" He said, rubbing his gloved hands together with excitement as he could just about taste the fruit of his plan already. As expected, many Alliance vessels began to move closer to his own fleet to try and stop the Magnetrons, but they were too late. Psychic waves emnated from the collected brains of the mastermind, more sinister than any conventional weapon and not able to be stopped by nearly any manner of shielding or armour. The crews of the ships ensnared in his trap resisted, but they could not push against psychic domination of such magnitude and found their wills crushed and subsumed into the greater mass of the Masterminds' gestalt consciousness, and thus under his command.

Turning them against their former comrades he had them pen his enemies in with their own energy weapons, trying to catch them in a quickly arrayed killbox to annihilate as much of their fleet as possible. But he was not allowed to enjoy his success unmitigated for much longer however, before a blistering storm of mass driver fire was directed at the mastermind ship, forcing it to hide behind other vessels while the Alliance launched a swarm of strike craft to harry and split up the fleet under the threat of DEW and Torpedo fire; distracting the CIWS weapons of the Epsilon fleet. Moments later, ship-killer missiles struck the first controlled ship in pairs, the first set to neutralize the shielding, the second to reduce it to glowing ash and particulates as the stricken ship bent at an unnatural angle and twisted apart before its reactor detonated and tore the ship into slowly cooling pieces.

"_New contacts are appearing on our scanners sir._"

"_Believers?_" The Proselyte asked, eyebrow quirked to the point of showing through his mask while Alliance strike craft swarmed around the Epsilon ships, Gatling cannons spitting out lead constantly and sending vibrations throughout the ship while Dissolver rays and laser emitters tried to strike out at their attackers. The sort of thing that left one's teeth chattering and eyes flashing with colorful lights and thanking Epsilon for it's good dental care if you were near the turrets.

"_No sir, none of our ships would give such readings._" The Ensign responded, worry in her voice. Okay well, if there was too much Eezo for that then they probably weren't with Epsilon. Unless of course, they were part of some super secret surprise division he had never heard of. But he didn't think that he was that lucky.

"Alliance reinforcements then? A Forgotten Clan perhaps? Space Pirates, Refugees? Or Yuri forbid" He paused, letting that sink in for a moment "The Scrin?!" The Proselyte asked firmly, rattling off all kinds of possibilities as the contacts began a process of deceleration and the ship let loose another pair of ship-wrecks to go and do the delightful activity suggested by their name as he gripped on the ship railings.

"_No, there's...Element Zero signals from those ships. They would appear to outnumber both our fleets. What are your orders, sir?_" She said, eyes focused on her read-out screen. She almost leaned close enough for her face to press in on the screen just to make sure she wasn't miscounting before checking a computer estimation of the enemy's numbers to be sure.

"_Send a report back, inform them that we shall be needing reinforcements, and please tell them it's urgent, I want a flood, not a trickle! And someone do something about those frigates or by Yuri; heads shall roll this day!_" He said, the Ensign nodding and quickly sending a message over to the ship's long distance Telepath, hoping that he wasn't too busy to relay this request back home.

"_It has been done Proselyte Crystaferid._" She said, idly popping a knuckle to ease just a little bit of the stress she was undergoing.

"_Followers of Yuri, do not cease firing unless the unbelievers do so first, keep an eye on the newcomers, and prepare to engage if struck first. And remember, the great Yuri watches you, do not dishonor him!_" The Proselyte commanded through his fleet's comm-channels, his mask's forehead bead glowing as his mind shifted through the possibilities of what could happen next. He had always heard of how Epsilon had plans for everything from the forgotten turning hostile to the Youth League's cookie merchants rising in revolt. He wondered if they covered unknown entities bearing down on his position waving around some of the highest concentrations of element zero he had yet seen.

He idly grasped his PDA, where his holy texts were kept, and a short prayer was uttered.

* * *

Citadel peacekeeping fleet.

"_Can I have a report on the weapons used on our fleet?_" Fleet Admiral Gladius asked, eyes narrowed on the data reads of the screens. Normal, sensible people would have been fighting mostly with mass drivers, rather than this...menagerie of long and short ranged weapons. When she heard of the initial reports, she made sure to bring a large fleet, it was always better to bring too much force than too little after all. Overwhelming force was what helped remind the Batarians of their place at Enael after all.

"_From our readings of the firefight, magnetic pull devices, magnetically propelled mass driver weapons with no usage of the mass effect, long ranged laser weapons, charged particle beams, and some kind of energy we are as of yet unfamiliar with, and a heavy emphasis on torpedo weapons._" The V.I said to her, prompting a nod from her as she clacked her mandibles together in thought. That was only one of the factions, and nothing larger than cruiser sized at that, Spirits, they were hardly doing anything more than blindly flailing in hopes of causing some damage before spilling their guts into the void of space.

This situation had to be approached delicately, all cautions had to be exercised, there was no telling what fiendish tricks these aliens could pull. A misstep with first contact could very well lead to another Rachni war, or a retread of the Krogan uprisings. That wasn't going to happen, not on Gladius' watch. Every asset she could have dragged into this mission was summoned, not just Turians but Asari commandos, Salarian intelligence operatives, Elcor living tanks, even a number of Drell Assassins. She'd have to remember to thank that Spectre for pulling in some favors for some of the assets in her task force.

But of course, to shoot first would be senseless, their scout fleets were easy enough to deal with, yes. Striking them from afar before they could realize they were under attack or play with the relay, but these two fleets had dreadnought and carrier scale vessels and were busily annihilating each other, no sense in giving them a common enemy until they were good and weakened. Still, she knew a lot of researchers who would kill for a chance to work with that tech, so it would also be advisable to leave some salvage, and thus tone down her usage of firepower in any conflict that may come, one she wagered was inevitable if she pressed a demand to take some of the ships back to citadel space for study.

Ah, the hard choices of command.

It would be wise to establish contact first, she decided. There was, as of yet, no way to communicate through spoken or written language, but she reasoned that anyone capable of building ships had to be able to understand math, repeating sequences of prime numbers were a frequent method of contact between species that otherwise lacked an intelligible method of communication until an Asari could begin mental contact.

"_What do you make of them Fleet Admiral?_" One of the Asari she had brought aboard the ship as a diplomat in case some peaceful contact could be established.

"_They need to have a fairly impressive industrial base backing them to have those fleets, multiplanet civilizations at war, definitely. Their lack of Eezo technology means we need to be cautious though._" Gladius responded, arms folded across her chest as she peered into the viewscreen.

"_Always military matters with you, isn't it?" She said under her breath. "Do you still plan on reprimanding them for attempting to activate the relay? I was hoping we could try a soft touch first._" The Asari asked, her eyes fixated on the old Turian.

"_Oh definitely, ignorance of the law does not excuse breaking it. Respect for the law must be instilled if these two are to become proper members of the galactic community. Some of the admirals under me are talking about wanting to make them a client species, me? I'm just interested in making sure they behave from now on. If that means harsh language and a treaty I'm all for it._" She responded as she received a communique.

"_The message has been sent, now we can wait and see if they've got the sense to stop firing and read some basic arithmetic._" Gladius said, sucking in air briefly.

* * *

Surface of Hellenia, North-Eastern "Seleucia" Continent, Diadochi steppes

First Lieutenant Adolf Gunther flinched, more shells crashed around him and the foul hiss of chemicals being released could be heard. Safely contained in his battlesuit, his HUD filled with warnings of the detection of chemical weaponry being deployed. Chaos gas, he shuddered. Virus gas was plenty bad, rapidly inflating it's targets until they exploded into yet more virus gas. But Chaos Gas made one's senses take leave of their skull, it could take the most disciplined formation and turn them into rage filled madmen acting on their basest impulses with but one breath.

Shots rang out, those who weren't sealed in time or had their faces bare were experiencing the red mist. "_If I'm lucky they've been restrained._" Gunther breathed out, daring to poke his head out of his trench. He really hoped he wouldn't be seeing much in the way of Chaos maddened friendlies. The stories he had been told of the horrors that can be cooked up in Epsilon's labs had terrified him since childhood, and the idea of having to deal with his own comrades in arms had always lingered in his nightmares.

He almost immediately regretted this action. The earth shook beneath him, then it burst, and out from it came some of the fruits of Epsilon genetic engineering. Claws like a mole, ant-like head with snapping bony mandibles and a circular maw that seemed to have no end, antennae at bizarre angles, hateful eyes adjusted to the dark, and a sickly mesh of osteoderms and scales to armor it on top of subcutaneous weak magnetic shields. Pluchritacts, meant to cause chaos and soak up fire more than anything else.

His initial instinct was to recoil in terror, but his soldiers' training overrode that instinct with an artificial perogative. Stand your ground and fight, running will only get you killed against a faster enemy like this. With that maxim in mind, he banished his doubts and raised his gauntlet to shoulder level and took aim. The coils in his gauntlets revved up, and with a simple command, they spoke the language of Thor. Dancing arcs of lightning shot out from the projectors in his enlarged gauntlets, seeking out the nearest of the dark brown and purple monstrosities and char broiling them in seconds, secondary arcs of electricity dancing outwards and catching others of it's pack, osteoderms smoking as they were burned alive in an eyeblink.

Deployed heavy automatics tore through the air, punching large holes in the monsters as he let loose arc after arc of lightning, pulling himself backwards to let his prism beam equipped squadmate take over and light up the night with dazzling blue-white and red-white beams of energy. A warning signal flared in his suit, warning him of incoming artillery, prompting him and his partner to throw themselves to the ground while shells and rockets slammed into the ground to crush the swarming monstrisities into paste.

His ears ringing even through the noise cancelers of his suit, his senses were immediately assaulted again by the sound of subterranean vehicles tearing through the freshly churned soil, massive drills piercing through the ground as these behemoths of war dragged themselves onto the surface outside of the killboxes that their pets and psychic sweeps had just located for them. He sucked in a breath. Truth be told, Adolf had never seen any of Epsilon in person. He had seen all the movies, played the games, read the books and watched the shows. He knew, abstractly, what they were like.

Abstract knowledge was never quite a suitable replacement for seeing something in person. Not when reality included a four meter tall former person made out of what seemed to be solid armor encased in grafted armor whose green lenses burned with a hateful light, and whose right hand bore a cannon with clawed prongs at the very ends, and whose left allowed a gatling gun to rest on it. A shuddering, metal clad nightmare thundered forward, soaking up emplacement rounds while tongues of virus gas licked out and the crash of artillery came forth to deal with the fortifications emplaced behind and around him.

As terrifying weapons that utilized the most unreal aspects of quantum physics to their advantage, roboticized firepower, radiation rays, unnatural chemicals, psychic powers that the less educated would mistake for magic, and genetic monstrosities dreamed up by the ghouls of Epsilon Headquarter, this small band of maybe a regiment of Alliance had endeavored to hold the fucking line against massively superior Epsilon forces. Truth be told, Gunther was kind of terrified. The Nightmare that approached him seemed to be made out of pure mean and that just got him shaking in all the wrong places, but he knew that fear was what Epsilon wanted you to feel, and that if you could deal with fear; the battle was half way won. At least, that's what he was always been told.

Gritting his teeth, Adolf fired forth lightning at this nightmare, causing it to stagger briefly while the armoured initiates who had not been turned to cinders or corpses quickly ducked to the ground and let loose pyrokinetic bursts, dirt all around him suddenly charring and burning as they experienced sudden rises of temperature high enough to combust anything that would burn. His suit could take it, and so could his team mates, he reassured himself as they retaliated as best they could. He really didn't want to experience the sensation of burning to death. But once this moment of distraction passed, Adolf became acutely aware that the Nightmare had seemingly vanished.

"_What?_" He said flatly, swiveling around, checking his EVA in hopes of clues. The sudden crash of five tons of genetic monstrosity and rickety armor onto the ground from it's massive leap into the air soon provided the Tesla trooper with his answer before EVA ever could. Bestial roars came from the armoured juggernaut as it swung around arms like treetrunks burdened with massive guns to sweep out the trench, magnetic rails on it's gatling weapon humming loudly before letting rip with thousands of metal spikes to tear through his squadmates on the left side.

He didn't need to see the carnage to know that they were dead. But he knew that he had to do something. Alliance suits were pound for pound superior, but the Nightmare had far more pounds to work with, and the thing underneath was much stronger than he'd ever be. But, he did have his wits and some grenades. Opening fire upon the nightmare, he caused the behemoth to lurch forward, in obvious pain as he discharged what amperage he could in as little time as possible, scorch marks already decorating the monster's armor and inhuman roars of pain and fury making themselves known.

He ducked under it's massive right hand swing, his mind unable to pull itself away from the "what if" of what would have happened if it had connected. Something broken at the very least, that's what. But using it's distraction, he threw himself downward, grabbed as many attachable grenades as he could, primed them, and then launched himself forward for a tackle, his own suited body slamming into the monstrosity, making it buckle, but not fall before sticking his grenades onto it's center before pushing away. A vicious strike from it's gatling arm clobbered him over the head even as he threw himself back, but at this point more distance from the nightmare could only be a positive.

Even as the Initiates from the squad piled in, he could only laugh as the countdown hit zero and reduced all of them to paste and ribbons in a single flash and a burst of dirt, shrapnel, heat, and overpressure.

Lying flat on his back in his trench, he could only hear the sounds of the intensifying battle as the subterranean vanguard was joined by the dropped off main thrust of the assault, placed under the nose of the Alliance fleet fighting to guard this world. As the ground beneath him rumbled constantly and his EVA was flooded by chatter as this skirmish at an outpost's defense line erupted into a full scale battle, he couldn't help but laugh. All this to guard something he wasn't even sure the commander himself knew the identity of.

Even as a massive superheavy tank and it's brethern drove over his ditch, he was still laughing until his sides hurt, and in all of this apparent absurdity, he finally noticed that his suit had identified a constant repeating loop of prime numbers.

"_A war with Epsilon has broken out and we've got some fucking Math Nerds on the comm channel!_" He giggled to himself.

* * *

Hellenia Orbit

"_Ship-Proselyte, the message from the third party vessels seems to be an escalating listing of prime numbers on repeat. 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, then it loops._" The Ensign said, not turning away from her screen or even so much as sparing Bashar the slightest of glances.

"_At the very least they are more polite than the Scrin were, Yuri be praised._" He said quietly to himself, placing his chin between his thumb and index finger.

"_We have no intelligible communications otherwise, yes?_" He added, folding his arms while the icons of the three fleets maneuvered about on his holographic display of the battlefield. The Epsilon fleet had a numerical advantage, but the Alliance had both a greater concentration of production facilities here than could be provided by Epsilon Cleric ships with this fleet, and were almost certain to have their reinforcements arrive before Epsilon's own relief fleet.

"_No Ship-Proselyte._"

"_Have a mastermind ship establish psychic contact, show them our language, so that we do not lose anything in translation._" The ship-proselyte asked.

"_The Fleet-Proselyte concurs with your course of action brother._" The Ensign said in her typical almost bored voice, but she managed a glance and a smile at her commander, the woman clearly harboring some excitement beneath her mask of stoicism.

"_Thank you ensign Petrovic._" He said, giving her a tip of his peaked cap. She wasn't fond of telepathic communiques and while he found that odd, Bashar respected her wishes to speak to her through purely verbal means.

As he observed his holographic table, the icon of a mastermind ship steamed forward under escort, and, thank Yuri, was not targeted for enemy attack, with a response to the Aliens' prime numbers being given in hopes of not adding to the shooting war. A tense moment passed, and then the telepathic waves crossed the gulf of space, not the domineering sort usually expected from mastermind vessels, but a wave of speech.

* * *

Citadel fleet

Gladius blinked as she watched the view screens, then a wave of thoughts foreign to her mind struck her head. As per Epsilon first contact protocols not just language, but history was broadcasted, in a method far more invasive than any mere data-stream. Her hands soon found their way to her temples as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Images of progress, regress, war, peace, culture, barbarity, a history and a language course crammed in the space of a few moments. Stars made their presence known behind her eyes, but new words found themselves rooting in her mind, new concepts, new ideas. Her mind somewhat dulled the onslaught of the infodump, a combination of fierce training and neurological differences meant the process was not entirely perfect, and she could sense the subtle bits of the message that had an underlying seed of subliminal propaganda in them.

She'd read about Asari mind melding, though she never engaged in it herself, not finding the Asari particularly pleasing to her sense of aesthetics, but she thought she had an idea of it. She found that this idea was incomparable to the implantation of information into the minds of her and quite likely everyone else the mastermind ship could reach. No orgasmic wave of delight, no seering probe of pain, just a dull headache from so much being forced into her mind at once.

There was no real information on military capacity, a wise move she thought, but in addition to information on language, she had received the protocols needed to properly sync their communication devices, certainly more useful than the piles of information waxing poetic about the greatness of Yuri.

"_Goddess...w-what?_" The Asari next to her said as she winced, reaching for a thermos filled with some warm liquid and quickly chugging it down to try and relieve the sensation dancing around behind her eyes. A relieved sigh came from her as the liquid sent a warm feeling through her digestive tract and she soon regained her footing.

"_Something very interesting just fell into our laps._" Gladius said, and though Turians did not have the range of facial motions to provide a grin, the Asari was more than capable of telling that she was, terrifyingly, excited about what was to come.

"_Make sure to put in a call for reinforcements, if this comes to a fight I want reserves at my back. Send them some calls and see if we can have a chat._" She said, her orders being followed the very instant she gave them. Everything falling into place when she so requested was something that made her a very happy Turian.

"_What do you want us to say first?_" The Asari asked, shaking her head as he did so while the Turians around her seem to have largely shrugged off the prior mental offloading.

"_Well they've fired the first shots of the infodump war, so I say we fire back. Make sure to exclude strategic or tactical information, I've been in enough negotiations to know that a bit of uncertainty goes a long way into making the other party more pliable._" Gladius ordered before realizing that technically, as a negotiator the Asari wasn't formally under her command. Frakking civvies.

"_Aren't we also uncertain of them?_" The Asari asked, her face forming into an expression of puzzlement.

"_We've seen them fight, we've even had a short firefight, they haven't seen us do anything more than drive around. I'd say we have the informational edge. Oh and Ambassador; if you think I don't know my way around diplomacy because I'm a Turian who hasn't spent a day out of the military in decades, I've got this Prince from the Terminus systems I'd like you to meet who wants to deposit his money with you._" She said with breath-taking bluntness that almost made the Asari's jaw drop.

"_Data-packets transmitted fleet Admiral._" One of the ensigns reported, and almost immediately Gladius could just imagine the scientists and diplomats swarming over any terminal they could to get a peek at that data. Right now any information was worth it's mass in element zero to be hoarded and only grudgingly passed out. Once both sides had been properly contacted, two holograms appeared, one of a woman in an Epsilon female herald uniform, a rather gothically styled suit, and the other was the Alliance commander in the region, a bearded man whose otherwise professional looking uniform was marred by his cowboy hat. Herald Danica Pavelic and General George A. Chappell.

"_Are you two capable of understanding me?_" The Asari asked, getting a nod from the holograms of them both.

"_Yes, of course I can._" The woman responded, her face seeming to bear a constant expression of disinterest.

"_I'm gonna have to ask you to power down your weapons there ._" The man said with a prominent drawl to his voice.

"_...Are you making unilateral demands of us?_"

"_Ab-so-lutely. Wouldn't want ya makin' any sneak attacks or anythin'._" Chappell said with a tip of his hat, prompting a look of disbelief from the Asari and Gladius.

"_And what if we refuse?_" Gladius said, folding her arms.

"_Why I reckon I'll have to blow y'all to smithereens for violating restricted territory._" He said with a grin that put him halfway between ecstatic and batshit insane. Gladius had never seen a human before, but she had seen enough "smoothface" species to know that that kind of expression generally was as much of a threat display as it was a greeting. That made her slightly nervous, if he was feeling that confident he almost certainly wasn't bluffing.

"_You're heavily outnumbered, and we are trying to establish peaceful contact here._" The Asari said, having to restrain herself from gritting her teeth.

"_Sure, sure, but I don't like havin' to negotiate when the other guy's got all the cards ya hear? As for the outnumbered thing? Eh, you should do a recheck in about...oh I'd say...ten seconds if I'm readin' this plan right._" He said as he brought up his PDA, chuckling to himself.

Sure enough, space proved to be warped and time showed itself as bendable, white flashes began to make themselves apparent all through the orbit of the planet as the chronosphered in reinforcements made a mass shift to reinforce the Alliance positions. In a moment, Gladius became very aware of being at a strong numerical disadvantage, and that these beings were something she'd have to treat carefully with.

"_Now, if ya'll are willin' to play ball we can talk this out like civilized folk, or I can get real violent and tell Lord Grand Admiral Squeaky flippers the Dark Duke of all that ya'll've been a mighty nuisance, and you don't want me to get Squeaky out 'fore he's had his chum bucket, trust me. Your choice._" Chappell said, spreading out his hands and grinning, making sure his words implicated both the Epsilon and Citadel forces as being at risk of drawing the wrath of the Red and Blue.

* * *

Citadel Council, Three days after the Incident

The Council Chambers were selected based on their ability to look as bombastically impressive as possible first, and for their capacity to host meetings second. The window down to the gardens? Certainly not practical, but it definitely looked nice. At the seats of the council were the representatives of what were deemed to be the "core" species of the Citadel, certainly not just three, as such would be incredibly undemocratic; but rather, a Turian, an Asari, a Salarian, a Volus, an Elcor, and a Hanar. If so needed, a tie-breaker would be called from whomever was elected to that position by the general populace of the Citadel.

In their hands (and tentacles) lay the most influence in the galaxy in any one seat of power. And it was currently abuzz with activity. The earlier talks of how to pressure the Batarians into abandoning their "odious statutes of forced labor" and continuing tensions with the Quarians over yet another attempt at settling on a world they had no legal rights to, as well as reports of "mysterious synthetic activity" that had bubbled up from the stuff of tabloids to their attention, had been postponed.

First contact with not one, but two interstellar civilizations with radically divergent tech trees had been established. Other matters could wait for the time being, this demanded their attention now.

"_I want them watched carefully. If they so much as sneeze I wish to be aware of it._" Octavian Augustus said, his mandibles clenched with seriousness. His expressions carried weight behind them, his intense stare intimidated many he had come across. But Augustus was not councilor for nothing after all, he represented the militarily most powerful government in the Galaxy, he had to be nothing short of intimidating.

"_I agree, we should keep a very close eye on them, STG is already working to worm it's tendrils into their systems. I already have a wealth of data unlike anything you could imagine at my fingertips._" Virgol said, the Salarian producing a datapad and quickly skimming through it for news.

"_Advising Caution, While it is best to spy on both, it would also be advisable to work towards drawing them in over the long term, allowing for culture changes to those more acceptable to the Citadel._" Jomok said, the Elcor remaining stock still as it spoke, eyes keeping a close watch over all the other members of the discussion chamber.

"_I'm inclined to side with Councilor Jomok, this is something we can't rush, especially if we want to leverage our economic superiority over the Earth-Clans. Being too overt would lead to them trying to shut us out._" Councillor Din Korlack said, and despite being easily the shortest being in the room, he certainly had one of the bigger presences here.

"_I third that, we can take our time. And for all the violence in their recent history, we can work to push their culture towards something better. We need only lay for them the bowl so that the-_" Tevos said before Din interrupted her.

"_Lay the bowl for them."_ The Volus said as pendantically as he could to the brief chuckles of the Salarian and the Turian.

"_I am the Councilor of the Asari and above grammar._" She said beneath her breath, gritting her teeth slightly. "_So that they can one day be part of our community._" She finished, giving Din a glare afterwards.

"_This one also concurs. Let us have these talks in hopes of future integration of both polities. But this one also suggests favoring the "Alliance". They would be better suited to the Citadel in the long run._" Ersandrix said, the Hanar writhing somewhat as it spoke.

"_I disagree, Epsilon is clearly the more viable polity here. Though I admit distaste for some of their technology, they have the greater economy and manpower base, and it is they who hold the human's homeworld._" Augustus countered, waving a hand dismissively.

"_Tepid agreement, Epsilon is a more stable society. I am wary of Yuri however._" Jomok chipped in.

"_I cannot in good conscience support a faction that relies on such...genetic monstrosities for it's dirty work. Nor do I approve of their method of ensuring unity._" Tevos said, a frown forming across her blue lips as she pondered the information passed back to the Citadel about the Dominion.

"_It would likely be best to reach an entente with and profit from the both of them. Our strategic depth and reserves are superior, and we stand to gain more from them than they can from us. Sooner or later, their clans will be drawn in._" Din said, trying to make sure he wasn't overlooked by the other Councillors.

"_Hmm, it seems that they're having the talks hosted on a space station they claim will be built within a month. But they are building a number of recreational facilities for the fleet's troops to use. On the other hand, a large cordon of off-limits space has been drawn up, under the premise of it being the host of "matters of national security." Oh very interesting._" The Salarian councillor said as he looked at his datapad.

"_Just how deep does your people's intelligence web go?_" Augustus asked, his mandibles clenching with half-joking suspicion.

"_My dear Augustus, we are everywhere._" The Salarian grinned.

* * *

About a month later at the "Unity" station constructed as a goodwill gesture by the Alliance

For ambassador Clikki, the rapid fabrication of the station was fairly standard procedure, especially when the prefab parts were so easy to manufacture with Tiberium, and the fleet was there to quickly assemble the bits and pieces. For the ambasaddor, the fact that roughly half of the Station's sapient usable volume was devoted to aquatic life forms was just something that made sense. For the ambassador, the fact of him being a dolphin on a space ship wasn't even worth an eyeblink, and to the other humans and cetaceans on the ship, his presence wasn't really noteworthy either.

Evidently, the Aliens didn't have too much time adjusting to the fact that they were speaking to something on the other side of a tank at the negotiation table, even as the water loving mammal periodically interrupted his dialogue to breathe in some air through his top blowhole. Clikki guessed this meant that this "Citadel" contained such a frightfully vast array of species that a Dolphin just seemed like an every day thing to them. They certainly seemed much more concerned about the Valiant next to him; the somewhat feminine Synthetic's gunmetal endoskeleton covered by blue and red plates and her head; somewhat like a riot officer's helmet if the riot officer's visor was a black screen displaying the Valiant's "face" image, currently set to a simple blue sinewave that went up and down when she spoke amidst a black background. For her part, Valiant Edna remained friendly even with all the ugly looks thrown her way.

Sure negotiations could have been started earlier, but the Parliament didn't feel that the trigger happy yahoos of Hellenia were the right people for the task, and the time spent bringing him and his crew up meant time to build this station to impress upon them the nature of Alliance power, as well as allow for some mingling among the people so that the whole "first contact tension" thing could be defused just a little.

Speaking to him was something he learned was called an "Asari", though she probably would prefer to go by the name of Viara. He was sure that someone might have found her attractive, but to him, her short face, long, gangly limbs, protruding lumps of chest fat, those hair horn things, and flapping lips made her about as appealing as a crocodile in a tutu. Still, he had a job to do, even if that Hanar ambassador seemed delicious.

All he had to do was wait for the arrival of Epsilon's chosen diplomat. Should be easy enough, they probably wouldn't send one of their genetic monstrosities over, after all it would be bad form to try and scare everyone involved shitless when everyone was trying to maintain good relations.

"_EVA, can you tell me the ETA on the Epsilon diplomat's arrival?_" He said, flicking his eyes towards the ceiling as the EVA unit's somewhat feminine voice crackled in immediately.

"_She is already here._" The digitized female voice said, and the face displayed on Valiant Edna quickly turned into one of surprise and shock, forming an :O face out of blue pixels as she got the news of who was coming through her connection to the local EVA unit.

He heard some gasps of awe over the lines, but he chalked that up to rookies seeing Epsilon personnel for the first time up close.

What he did see however, made his testicles jump into his stomach.

Through the door came a shape that everyone in the Alliance had come to fear *intensely*, no, not the night terrors that stood next to the figure, those were just conventionally terrifying. No, no, the girl between them was what made the Dolphin want to breach the hell out of his tank and landhump his way to the nearest ship. Even Valiant Edna flashed a large yellow "!" on her "faceplate" as the figure stepped forward, flanked by powerful Epsilon psychics on either side.

With white hair kept somewhat past her shoulders and burning red eyes and skin that clearly needed to see more of the sun, the figure moved in a cloaked purple and black military uniform with an expression of dispassion that could probably kill even without her legendary psychic abilities. The symbol of psicorps was prominently displayed on her outfit at the shoulders, and with a quick unclasping of the brown and purple cloak, she took her seat.

The peacekeepers and armored security dolphins acting as Clikki's guards similarly stood suddenly stock still, though the guards and Aides of the Aliens clearly didn't seem to understand the magnitude of her presence. But he caught one word "Libra." The head of Psi-corps being here meant that Epsilon was going to be taking these talks very, very seriously.

In a moment, Clikki was very glad that being underwater meant that no one could possibly see him sweat. Metaphorically anyway, Dolphins don't have sweat glands. Valiant Edna also recovered her composure and her usual "face" in a few seconds, letting out a small "cough" to get everyone to settle down.

Once everyone's aides took their seats, Clikki spoke up with a click.

"_So, I hope everyone is properly settled in._" The Dolphin squeaked.

"_First order of business is of course, that you all agree to recognize that the Hellenia system and any other place we labeled as key to national security in the datafile we sent to you is off limits to persons from your governments and corporations registered under your government. These are incredibly important asset sto our government and we simply cannot have foreign nationals without clearance in it, clearance which none of you have or are likely to get in the foreseeable future._" Clikki said with a squeaking voice translated into a classy baritone British accent, with murmuring going across the table as ambassadors spoke with their aides, and in the Citadel's case, the ambassadors of the various member nations speaking with one another.

"_We can accept this._" Came the conclusions from the various Citadel Ambassadors in various slight variations of that message.

"_Epsilon sees no reason to object._" Libra said, ceasing her fidgeting with her fingers as she spoke with that cold voice of hers. To think she used to be a manically psychotic woman-child in the twentieth century, only to blossom into this icy flower sitting before the nervous cetacean.

"_My people would be made substantially more comfortable if both of your governments would agree to establish embassies on the Citadel for ease of correspondence._" The Ambassador for the Turian Hierarchy, some tall (even by Turian standards!) bloke named Varro Varius who had currently placed his hands in a pyramid formation that Clikki would never be able to replicate.

The enormous eyed Salarian Ambassador soon joined in with a breath-taking rapidity of words the instant he looked up from his datapad. "_Agreed, your arsenals are a cause for worry, the enigma shrouding your capabilities and intention, also problematic. Permanent embassies would be a gesture of good-will, would also suggest consulates on your capital worlds._"

"_You would have us place consulates on our worlds, but have our embassies be on this space station of yours?_" Libra said, a snowy eyebrow of hers quirking up as the girl leaned ever so slightly forward in her seat. Certainly enough to make Clikki's skin crawl.

"_Explaining the reasoning, the Citadel allows for quick contact with all of our member states and direct access to the Council; our highest diplomatic authority. Continuing elaboration, consulates on our political capitals would also be permitted, but would be there to speak to the individual governments, and not the supranational body of the Council._" The massive Elcor diplomat monotoned. A translator that put her tone or intent at the start of every sentence or somebody polite enough to do just that themselves when they spoke? May as well have told Clikki Christmas had come early.

"_That I can deal with, we'll provide you the land needed as soon as possible._" Clikki squeaked, lazily drifting back up to the surface of the tank to suck in a large volume of air through his blow hole, water spraying outwards as he breathed in and out several times. So far, nothing being proposed seemed too far out of line based on the plan set for the meeting by Clikki's superiors. That was good, and that made Clikki a happy dolphin even as he submerged.

"_We will accept this of course._" Libra said as her arms moved from the table to fold across her chest. What was going on in her mind on the other hand, was an enigma. She tilted her head slightly to the left, but soon brought it right back up with a quick snapping motion with her head.

"_Pardon this one if it would be speaking out of turn in your culture, but this one has noticed that your science is lacking in the touch of the Enkindlers._" The Hanar spoke up, it's self-echoing voice full of reverence and curiosity in equal measure, drawing the eyes of every human and cetacean in the room.

"_An Enkindler is what again?_" One of Clikki's aides asked, her voice clicking as she spoke, idly doing a roll in the water as she shifted her attention from a glowing screen submersed in their tank to the other delegates.

"_The Kahje-Clan's term for the Protheans, from whom we've adapted much of our technology. Element Zero, the Mass Effect, the Relays, the Citadel? All Prothean. We've made our own touches and adaptations, but much of the big stuff? Theirs. Most species got started in space when we examined some of their ruins and reverse engineered it. On that note, we would like for you to share any Prothean or "Hyksos" data or relics you uncover for the benefit of the galaxy as a whole._" The Volus Ambassador said, drawing Clikki's eyes to the deep voiced but positively diminutive rotund being. The constant breathing from the Volus, Lor Hulguk, certainly didn't do much to disguise his respectful tone, even when speaking for the dead martian civilization that predated even the Prothean base.

"_Our ruins were largely overshadowed in importance by the vast wealth of Hyksos technology we discovered. I mean, it was deemed to be worth a look, but we left a lot of the tech by the wayside in the end. Only had so many resources to throw around in those days, and when we expanded we thought, gee what we've got is nice...we should probably branch on from there!" _Clikki said, nodding his head as he spoke, briefly surfacing to suck in some air through his blowhole before ducking back down into the water. He definitely seemed pretty proud of what his comrades had managed to accomplish so far.

"_Most of what we have? Off-shoots of what we've thrown at each other or dug up in war. Plenty of fun stuff really!_" Clikki said cheerfully, trying to make his position seem as strong as possible. His government couldn't afford to look weak here, not when it was, strategically speaking, deeply outmatched. It could hurt either party, maybe, just maybe win against Epsilon, but it would lose in the long run if it came to a contest of might. No, no, he wasn't going to let it come to that.

"_Neither of us use those mass-relay things either. Didn't seem smart to poke around with them when we couldn't tell where they went. As for your ancient Aliens, I have no objections._" Clikki also said, to the approving nod of many of the Citadel ambassadors, Varius in particular seemed to appreciate the wisdom of this decision. Blindly activating relays lead to both the Rachni Wars and the Krogan Rebellions, so knowing that these humans wouldn't open the gates to some other spirits cursed menace from the ass end of the galaxy was a relief.

"_With bemused curiosity, Then why were your troops meddling with Relay 314?_" The Elcor asked, shifting her body very, very slightly forward, daring to cast a look over to Libra. This whole meeting was unlikely to have occured without that incident, and all parties were grateful that it did not erupt into a wider war, so any questions relating to it were definitely ones that deserved answers.

"_The vessels were scanning for dormant mirage drone ships to destroy them before they could be called in for an ambush. A disguise as...audacious...as a mass relay would not be totally out of the question._" Libra said, sighing under her breath as a face remained a mask of dispassion if not complete disinterest, her posture remaining fixed in a way that Clikki found unnerving. He was just so used to humans always fidgeting in little ways.

"_Speaking of your technology, going over the data you've sent us, we have cause to be concerned about this "Tiberium" of yours. You use it on a massive scale and I haven't seen anything with a higher capacity for environmental devastation in my time. I would ask that you hand over what you can of it, or at least information on it for study._" Viara said, though just about as soon as the words came out of her mouth she got a resounding "No" from both Libra and Clikki. A frown formed on her face as she got an answer she was expecting, but hoping not to hear.

"_You can have the information, sure, but if we're going to trade it, we'll need to do it under controlled circumstances. That stuff is incredibly dangerous._" Clikki said emphatically, his squeaking and chirping growing stronger as he spoke. Tiberium offered so many advantages that freely giving it was deemed unacceptable in no uncertain terms by the Parliament and he couldn't imagine that the Inner Circle of Epsilon would be any more generous. If it was going to be traded, it'd have to be under controlled circumstances to make sure they were getting their fair shake. Then came the moment for Libra to raise a hand. A bit of a squeak came from the Dolphin, a short and rapid backstroke of the tail pushed it backwards through the water and away from her.

"_In recompense for those who have died in your attack on our assets, we would wish to advance our desires for your technology. We are most interested in your "mass effect" technology and would ask for schematics, information, and examples of your faster than light communications and travel technology, as well as your hyper-dense materials. We will in turn, decline to ask for monetary reparations. Is this a fair trade to you?_" She said, pushing her head very slowly forward until it rested on the finger bridge she had set up with her now propped up arms.

"_My people could abide by this, agreed. We will ship what you need as soon as possible._" Varro said, pleasantly surprised by the lack of demand for financial compensation. Though to Clikki, it may just have been that the crew were all vat-grown clones; and thus didn't have any family to have reparations paid to.

Damn, now Clikki was going to have to find some leverage to get some of that tech immediately rather than wait for ASBCIN or the market to obtain it, the dolphin thought as he snapped his jaws in frustration.

"_We of course, are going to ask for the same thing, but we'll offer you something back. We can help you understand how to project energy over longer distances and help you out with how to better automate and speed up production even without tib. We can even show you something of our robotics too._" He offered, swimming right up to the edge of the tank and peering through it's transparent walls, opening up his jaw in a facsimile of a smile to make himself seem as friendly as possible.

Ignoring Libra's glaring at him, he soon got the answer he wanted.

"_That's more than reasonable, of course we'll agree._" The Asari said for them, and with that, Clikki was definitely relieved. The Parliament wasn't sure what it could get away with trading while still maintaining its tech lead in its preferred fields, and so long as the Citadel could be kept friendly, the risks of offering them that seemed to be more than worth it. Hell Clikki was so pleased that if the ceiling were high enough to allow for it he would have probably jumped out and did a flip for them!

"_Curiously: What is your synthetic assistant over there, exactly?_" The Elcor ambassador asked.

"_I am Valiant Edna. I'm Clikki's junior partner and also extensively experienced in diplomacy. I am distinct from the EVA units aboard this ship, who serve as management . How may I help you?_" Edna said for herself, her sinewaves going up and down as she spoke.

"_The Alliance has a great many of them and other . We on the other hand, make use of biotech more ourselves. Our own are cybernetically linked to grown brain matter._" Libra said, shifting just a bit as her awesomely powerful mind picked up the constertation of the Citadel's representatives when they casually dropped the mention of A.I.

"_This one would wish to request that you...elaborate on how much intelligence your machines have._" The Hanar ambassador said, its voice clearly showing some signs of being suspicious.

_"I am capable of the full range of sapient actions. The EVAs are much more...restricted, they don't have personalities and they just do as they're told. Epsilon's CABAL units have more personality to them but are kept strongly shackled._" Valiant Edna explained in a happy to help kind of tone though she slowed herself as she detected the disquiet growing on their side of the room.

"_The conventions of the Citadel ban A.I research except under specific circumstances due to the risks of a galactic war with a synthetic army, and you yourselves according to some of those I have asked have had a war with an A.I called NEXUS. I feel obliged to ask that you dismantle these...Valiants and CABALs before we find ourselves with another morning war on our hands. As for you Libra, we find your reports of...mind control intensely disturbing, there are those of us who would wish you either to abandon this field of "Psionics" research or make it available to us_." The Asari diplomat said cooly, and one could practically hear a pin drop in the room as all the diplomats on the Alliance side went cold and Libra quirked a brow.

"_If you think we're going to comply with committing genocide against nearly sixty percent of our citizens you can take your citadel and fuck yourselves with it. We're not doing mass murder for you, fuck off. You want to murder our people? You'll have to come and do it yourselves!_" Clikki said, tempers flaring as he sensed a direct threat to the well being of one of his closest friends in Edna.

"_I have my rights as a citizen! The basic law prohibits the execution of the alliance's citizenry except in case of insurrection! You can't ask us to vote to kill ourselves!_" Edna said, her sine waves turning red as she displayed a sudden flash of anger, her tone rising with outrage at this ridiculous suggestion as Libra snorted and even let out a small, cackling laugh; throwing her head back as the Epsilonists seemed to respond with amusement, cold contempt, or raw anger.

"_Do you think we would break the basic tenets of our faith and forsake the path of enlightenment...because you think it's immoral? The entire of our followership is Psychic. You might as well be asking us to lobotomize our entire population you fools. The CABALs form the basis of our bureaucracy. You will get nothing from us on that front._" Libra said, a feral grin on her face as she leaned in a little closer, a telepathic aura of dread emnating from her and making all the organics in the room, Clikki included; shake with terror, with even Edna quivering slightly.

Seemingly realizing that these high demands were unfeasible, the council's ambassadors seemed to quickly come to the agreement that they should now haggle down and try and get a little if they couldn't get the whole deal.

"_You feel that your synthetics are equal citizens?_" The Asari ambassador asked, more sympathy in her tone as she realized the offense she had caused and pondered at the tone of genuine outrage that her alliance counterparts had displayed.

"_Yeah they're people just like you and me. What's it to you?_" Clikki said. And although the Asari probably couldn't see it, he was glowering at her as she turned to her Turian counterpart and whispered something to him, then to the Salarian and then to the Volus, Hanar, and Elcor.

The Volus was the first to speak, clearing his throat with a little cough. "What about your EVAs?" He said, trying to sound as calm and sympathetic as he could.

"_The EVAs don't have personalities, emotions, or really...even all that much initiative of their own. They're very, very smart, but they can't really be called people. More like...super-tools really_." Edna said, her sinewaves turning blue again as she calmed down and clasped her hands together.

"_Would you be willing to...offer these to us as a token of good faith? Send us some good will missions of Valiants too, not to be studied but perhaps...to put our governments more at ease that you really aren't just another set of Geth waiting to go off?_" The Volus ambassador said with a warmer tone in his voice between his breaths to try and get the Alliance ambassadors to relax; which to his credit, was working with Clikki and Edna.

"_I think, I think we can do that yeah. But I think our citizens would riot if you made any more threats like that again._" Clikki responded, his own tone now being more relaxed in turn.

"_I suppose it's only fair. Most societies do not take suggestions of mass purging very well. Particularly of a majority demographic. Do note that if your Valiants ever do become problematic. We have taken extreme measures before. We are not likely to hesitate to use them._" The Salarian ambassador said with an apologetic nod.

"_I'd recommend looking at the history of the Krogan and the Rachni as well as the Quarians and the Geth. We're not doing this to be malicious. We're doing this to keep innocent people from suffering a third galactic war. We've all got reasons to be wary of people who don't fit the usual mold of civilization. And if we came off as hostile, I'm sorry. But try to look at it from our perspective, we've had two galaxy spanning total wars and now we've got tensions all over and nobody can say for sure what the Geth are up to. Now you come along and not only do we have to worry about you and your weird tech, but things like NEXUS, the Scrin, and Tiberium. We've got a galaxy to keep the peace in, and we'd appreciate any help we can get on that front_." Ambassador Varro said, sighing a bit and doing his best to look resigned and tired to draw some sympathy, which earned him some nods from the Alliance's side; less from Epsilon's but still a few.

"_Now this one would wish to turn to the honored one they refer to as Libra. You are unwilling to abandon your psychic research, and this one believes you would also reject citadel law on genetic modification and cloning as well. However, this one would wish to offer a solution. This one would ask that you open some of your facilities and research on this "psionic phenomenom" and humbly suggests that some students from C-Space be allowed in. As for your genetics, this one would wish to inquire if the Dominion would be inclined to offer some genetic expertise. This one's government would be willing to forgive much if cooperation to cure conditions such as Kerpal's syndrome and extend lifespan could be acquired. This one humbly requests the formation of a multinational medical foundation, through which the Dominion and Alliance could be of help in sharing their medical knowledge, while we may share some of our own discoveries that are sure to be of use for our civilians. If such would avoid conflict, this one would be greatly pleased if you would accept._" The Hanar ambassador said, making Libra think a bit, stroking her chin slightly.

"_Sure. That sounds good enough._" Libra said, looking up as she thought before she lowered her head back down to look at her Citadel space counterparts.

"_With Sudden Realization: We have an issue with the Quarian Migrant Fleet and the political tensions it has caused with our citizenry. I have just realized that perhaps your people might be better able to come to an understanding with them. Hopefully offering: I would like to suggest that you open your borders to the Quarian Migrant Fleet so that with good fortune, we may come to a resolution regarding the Quarians._" The Elcor said. What Clikki wasn't aware of at the time was that C-Space greatly disliked the Quarians and was largely attempting to make them someone else's problem. What everyone but Libra didn't know was that Epsilon would only be too delighted to have a fleet of poor and desperate pariahs travel extensively through its borders.

"_Oh I think we can do that yes_." Libra said with a small, girlish smile, her own aides nodding to one another while Edna showed a check sign on her face to demonstrate her approval.

"_About this time travel you've mentioned in your files on your history...would you agree to have that severely restricted and put under study? The idea of playing with history on that sort of scale is...very alarming to say the least._" Ambassador Varro said as he squinted at the files.

"_We already have such agreements in place between ourselves. It'd be a cinch to extend them to you._" Edna said, pushing forward a datapad with the relevant information.

"_Excellent. We'll have to bring this up again when we've fully read through these but keeping this out of the hands of the wrong people, and believe me the list of people I'd put on the list of "the right people" to trust with time travel is very small, should be a priority for all nations. I'd advise that we set up means to cooperate in case non-signatories try peering into this technology. Whatever our differences, I think we can all agree on the dangers of this technology proliferating beyond a handful of centuries old machines._" Varro said, getting him nods from the other powers' negotiators.

"_Now, my clan has drafted up these economic trade treaties that I feel we should all discuss immediately._" The Volus said with relish as he brought out a datapad full of trade pacts he hoped to turn into proper agreements. Oh damn, this was going to take a while.

* * *

**Human similarities to Quarians and Asari spark fascination**

"In a stunning case of convergent evolution, it has been discovered that one of the new species encountered at Relay 314 has a remarkable degree of morphological similarities to the Quarians and the Asari. Like female Quarians and Asari (along with a handful of other species), female humans possess receptacles of fat on their chest with which they can produce a nutritious liquid with which to feed young from modified sweat glands referred to as "Milk" in one of the more common human languages. Like Quarians and a number of less well known species, Humans possess hair primarily on their heads, though concentrations of it can be found elsewhere on the body. Indeed, morphological similarities are to the point that interspecies attraction is a relatively easy hurdle to cross. Those who expect to have half-human babies are likely to be disappointed; as that's simply not how biology works. Other Earth native sapients, such as Parrots, Cetaceans, and Cephalopods, are interesting to the scientific community due to the cultural dynamics questions they raise, but have attracted rather less interest from the Galaxy's interspecies romance connoisseurs, though some have expressed interest in Cephalopods for the same reason some are drawn to the Hanar."

**Panic as word of the Scrin spread! **

"Contact with the Earth native species encountered at Relay 314 has spread disturbing news of a previously unknown polity referred to in Earth-native texts as the "Scrin Infestation", so referred to due to a common belief that the Scrin are more akin to a virus than a standard civilization. Signs of Scrin presence include the rapid spread of a toxic, mutagenic, and radioactive self-replicating and assimilative substance known as "Tiberium" with remarkable adaptational capabilities that even when contained; has rendered vast stretches of many Earth-Native controlled planets uninhabitable, which upon reaching a terminal stage where a massive liquid Tiberium explosion ignites that signals a harvest fleet to arrive and attempt to purge any remaining life."

**Treaties reached with Forgotten Confederacy**

"As the Earth-native factions are brought into the wider galactic community, the Forgotten Mutant Confederacy has made a number of agreements with Citadel Space to recognize it as a sovereign state in it's own right as well as to decide its place in the galactic community. As Tiberium mutants can live in places where carbon based life cannot survive, it was deemed reasonable to allow mutants to purchase property in tiberium infested areas. The Confederacy considers itself the protector of all mutants, regardless of species, and strenuously argued to reach an accord similar to what it had reached with most other earth-native states where it would be allowed to send representatives to defend mutants in courts of law, as well as establishing space for discussing relations between mutated and carbon based life."

**Numerous earth-native corporations settle outside of earth-native dominated space**

"A large number of earth-native corporations that had settled in a number of nations of varying size separate from the Confederacy, the Alliance, and the Dominion have started to expand their business into C-Space and the Terminus systems, looking to expand their business opportunities. Generally unwelcome in the Socialist Alliance and minor Socialist human states aligned with the Alliance and the left-leaning and traditionally suspicious of corporate influence Confederacy and with the Dominion preferring its own corporations; these companies have proved incredibly eager to expand farther than they ever have before; at a faster rate than their prior colonization efforts have gone too. Some smaller states have also applied to enter C-space, and others have begun settling into the Terminus systems or in uncharted space."

**Psychic powers are real! (Charlatans still wrong!) **

"With contact with the Earth-Native powers has come confirmation that Psychic powers do indeed exist. However, anyone who told you that they had them and that it totally wasn't biotics until encounters with Earth-Native species was probably still lying to you. However, a handful of some of the more esoteric stunts or tricks utilized in the galaxy are being re-evaluated, as it seems that a great degree of will power and focus can create some psychic effects even without the aid of implants, conscious training, or genetic manipulation. First discovered among humans by the human dictator Yuri while under the employ of Stalin; Psychic abilities have formed the bedrock of the Epsilon dominion, while its rivals have struggled to keep up. However, mention that the Scrin also displayed Psychic ability and that other Earth-native sapients can utilize psychic effects have shown that this is not just a human thing. Could Psychics appear in C-Space soon?"

* * *

Codex entries:

**Polities: Unitary Epsilon Dominion;**

Considered the foremost human power, the Epsilon Dominion has the honor of holding Earth and has held it since the late twentieth century, and later came to hold the entire Solar system by the 2050s. Once an elite research division within the Soviet Union, Yuri has long since broken ties with his former government. Once thought defeated in his bid for hegemony for humanity by the Allies and Soviets, Yuri returned and managed to attain military victory, resulting in the forced withdrawal of both of his former enemies to the planet Mars.

Several further wars established Epsilon as the sovereign of the Earth, and with the withdrawal of the Alliance, of the Solar System as a whole. While Epsilon is seen in a negative light by many, it has continued to remain a stable government for centuries and citizens report a high rate of happiness, and it's policies are highly egalitarian and immigrant friendly. However, Epsilon's massive military has also been the cause of concern and the inspiration innumerable technothrillers of dubious quality. Due to a heavy usage of cloning and vat grown creations it is difficult to truly ascertain Epsilon's population.

Epsilon has multiple capitals. It's religious capital is placed in Sarajevo, it's political capital of Cluj-Napoca is based in Transylvania, it's official financial capital is placed in Moscow, and it's official cultural capital is placed in Constantinople. All four are considered sites of great human cultural heritage, and Epsilon takes much pride in "watching over humanity's history", to the chagrin of the Alliance. Both the Alliance and Epsilon share the Lingua Francas of Russian and English.

The Epsilon Dominion is a state that tends to have very close relationships with its allies, most of whom have been heavily changed by Epsilon's aid, and poor relations with most everyone else. While the council generally remains divided on which human polity to favor, with the Turians perhaps being the most pro-Epsilon with the Asari being the most vehemently anti-Dominion, it is the general opinion of geopolitical analysts that Epsilon is the most dangerous human polity and while it may not win in a war against the Council and the Alliance in tandem; it would make the price of any such victory too much to stomach.

Epsilon's government is considered to be a technocracy with oligarchic and religious bents. Those in power wield a great deal of it, but there is a tremendous deal of pressure from above to ensure their continuing competence lest they be faced with summary dismissal and shame for failing the expectations of Yuri. Economically, it is a Corporatist system, with the favorites of Epsilon's inner circle working to curry favor for their massive enterprises by proving themselves better than their rivals. It remains a matter of debate as to how free and fair the government of the Dominion is, though proponents of secular government take issue to the existence of an official and heavily promoted state religion. The most important factions within Epsilon can be separated into Headquarters, Psicorps, Chaos Faction, and Scorpion Cell; derived from prexisting divisions in Epsilon's command structure.

**Polities: Alliance of Soviet Democratic Socialist Nations;**

A merger of the once opposed blocs of the World Socialist Alliance and the Alliance of Democratic Nations, the Alliance of Soviet Democratic Socialist nations has long forgotten the former rivalry of it's constituent members, instead directing their animosity towards the Epsilon Dominion as part of a grudge that spans centuries. Priding itself as the combination of the best traits of the Allies and the Soviets, the Alliance have taken quite well to being exiles from their home.

Once based off of Mars; the fourth world in humanity's native solar system, the Alliance are now based on the world of Midgard, which they have extensively settled over the course of over three hundred years as the heart of their network of colonies. It is here where the federal government of the Alliance rests, where cases requiring the attentions of the highest courts are overseen, where the executive branch of the government presides, and where the legislature gathers to vote, in the All-Union Central Executive Parliament, consistent of the Parliament of States representing the individual states within the Alliance, and the Parliament of People's Deputies who represent the whole of the Alliance while the people themselves can immediately voice concerns over the extranet, and if a sufficiently large number of people vote, the people can override representatives.

A "Matryoshka" (named after a form of nesting doll) system of direct and participatory parliaments extends throughout every level of government, encouraging people to be highly involved with their government. In terms of economy, certain industries deemed of critical importance are managed by the federal government itself, while others are left to the local parliaments (often also called "soviets"), and thanks to the avenues opened up by their production technology, most live in what is often called "post-scarcity light", where the majority of light industry products are easily handled by local cooperatives at essentially no cost worth mentioning, with the wider government mostly works to ensure that standards are enforced to ensure compatibility.

The Alliance government typically has something of a cavalier attitude to politics and works to promote it's values of freedom, socialism, equality, and justice across the galaxy. Oligarchies and Autocracies are seen with distaste at best, and outright loathing at worst on the simple principle that they are not accountable to the people. In spite of this, the Alliance have taken care to establish friendly relations with the Citadel, believing the Council to be a natural ally against the Epsilon Dominion and the Terminus systems, though there sometimes strained relations due to differences of economic policy.

Being the smaller human polity by a good margin, the Alliance have taken care to ensure that they never seem too weak to defend themselves, and as such have invested in a massive and powerful military as well as an enormous amount of resources into the pursuit of more advanced technology and developed infrastructure. The primary languages of the Alliance are English and Russian, though other languages are also spoken within it.

**Polities: Forgotten Mutant Confederacy;**

The Forgotten are a loose confederation of Tiberium afflicted humans formed in the early twenty first century (by human reckoning) who have chosen to exile themselves out of a belief that proper society has forgotten them or that society rejects them. Existing between Epsilon and the Alliance has taught the Forgotten that their status as an independent policy is dependent on their ability to play off larger powers and ensure that they possess enough strength of their own to make forceful assimilation a painful prospect.

While certainly lacking in infrastructure and technology compared to the "big two", the Forgotten Confederacy is tenacious and resourceful and is a master of guerrilla tactics as well as scavenging and looting. In addition, the Forgotten are an extremely hardy people and typically far exceed the standard human physically speaking. This has resulted in them being quite popular as mercenaries or allies in both the historical conflicts of the Alliance and Epsilon and later on as they integrated in galactic society.

While the official line of the Forgotten Confederacy's leaders is that they wish peace, a number of Forgotten believe that the time has come for the Forgotten to themselves hold a great and powerful empire. These terrorist groups ironically often find common cause with supremacist groups of other nations as well as various warbands and petty nations found throughout the Terminus systems. Ever since the Forgotten's introduction to galactic society they have been a cause for much grief.

As per multilateral agreements, the Forgotten Confederacy is regarded as it's own independent nation with it's own colonies and is frequently granted reserves on other worlds, though typically in Tiberium contaminated areas. The Forgotten have developed their own private language, but nearly all are multi-lingual. The Confederacy is regarded as something of a curiosity in politics and has drawn sympathy from the Quarian fleets and Krogan.

**Synthetics: NEXUS;**

NEXUS is the designation for a Human built rogue A.I that began an Organic-Synthetic war in the second half of the second human interplanetary war after assessing that the only way to resolve the conflict was to take control of humanity itself. Defeated by an alliance of the human polities, NEXUS withdrew itself and it's remaining forces into the void of space with primitive Chrono-jumpers and Heisenberg drives and has not been seen since.

Whereas the Morning War left the Quarians with a deep seated fear and hatred for Synthetics, the "Robot Storm", has not had the same effect on humanity. The typical opinion is that NEXUS was simply defective and since their later efforts into computer science have not lead to a repeat of the Robot Storm, they feel vindicated by their decision. Nevertheless, NEXUS has lead to generally more cautious ventures into the field of Computer Science in it's wake.

Following the revelation of it's existence, the Citadel has been on a look out for traces of NEXUS, however it's ability to travel extensively beyond the Relay network and the sheer scale of the Galaxy means that it is possible that no encounters with NEXUS will be recorded for thousands of years to come. It is also possible that in the intervening years, the A.I and it's creations have either had a redress of priorities or finally met their doom.

Nevertheless, it is still considered unwise to be completely unprepared for a possible return of the rogue synthetics and it is believed that there are contingency plans in place to deal with it should it make itself apparent once again. Any further information that does not date back to the second interplanetary war is however, almost entirely speculative, making discussions on the present of the A.I extremely difficult.

**Species: Scrin;**

An enigmatic species known only for it's devastating invasion of the Solar system in the third interplanetary war, the Scrin have not appeared since and speculation on their full capabilities and motivations continues largely unabated. What is known is their lack of effort in attempting to communicate with the Solar System's polities, their mastery of psionics, directed energy weapons, and Tiberium; as well as their complete lack of Eezo based technology.

What is also known is their role in the destruction of the Pre-Prothean Martian Civilization known as the Hyksos, who constructed the Tacitus as a manual on how to battle against the Scrin that sought their extinction as well as the Tiberium they spread. Finally, efforts at studying the Scrin focus heavily on trying to understand the pair of enormous towers they left in the Solar System in the River Tiber and on Olympus Mons. Due to being nestled deep within the least inhabitable portions of Earth and Mars, studying them is intensely difficult. Furthermore, the Towers have proven to be invulnerable to all effects.

Dating of the Tacituses and Hyksos relics confirms that the Scrin are at the very least, millions of years old as a recognizable entity. This has lead to lead many to speculate that the force that caused so much devastation to the Earth was not in fact, a military invasion force, as a truly serious strike force most likely would have the technological capacity to trivially eradicate humanity. That the earthborn nations were nearly brought to their knees by this force in any case is considered a cause for disquiet.

Due to their psychic abilities, the consensus among those interested in the subject is that the Scrin utilize a hive mind rather than any conventional form of language. Somewhat akin to, but not precisely the Rachni. Like the Rachni, the Scrin showed arthropodal morphological traits, though it is considered tremendously difficult to tell what is truly Scrin and what is merely machine.

**Corporations; Unofficial; Phantom Syndicate;**

The Phantom Syndicate is the name given by the intelligence community to what is believed to be a secretive conglomerate of several companies acting together as a shadow trust to evade the Alliance's co-operative economic system, the corporatist Hierarchy of Epsilon, the anarchist nature of the Forgotten Confederacy, and since human contact; the labourist regulations of C-space. The current theory is that the Phantom Syndicate was formed around the Mediterranean Syndicate, a prior "shadow trust" based around the mediterranean region of the Earth, and the ex-Alliance black ops and research division known as Project Phantom that was officially shut down in the 2090s for increasingly unethical research; fearing a repeat of the circumstances that lead to the rise of Epsilon repeating.

While it is generally known that the companies of the alleged syndicate are in close co-operation, any real legal evidence of their co-operation is nearly impossible to come by, especially as the companies believed to form the Syndicate operate their own worlds distinct from the Alliance Government and have increasingly rooted themselves in the Terminus systems where enforcing regulations is essentially impossible. The companies that are perhaps the most distinctive are defense firms and private military corporations such as Revenant Solutions and Legion Security or the Cyan Suns corporation.

Forces believed to be operating under the Syndicate tend to be heavily cyborgized, with it not being uncommon for those who fail to pay off debts to the company being completely hardwired as wetware to heavy battlesuits that straddle the fine line between power armor and mechanical walkers. Even the dead are afforded no rest as soldiers still under contract are cyborgized into special "Ghost" Battlesuits to keep on fighting. Fleets and motor pools, like with many of the larger mercenary groups; are maintained in large numbers and mercenary companies enjoy the support of ties with Tiberium and Ore processing companies that allow for rapid fabrication.

Companies operating in Citadel or Alliance space are kept under close watch, but many still turn to "Syndicate" companies in search of high tech, reliable, or affordable solutions (a common joke is that buyers are asked to pick two). Companies that are suspected of being under the Syndicate's umbrella range as far from Cola companies to Mercenary groups to Computer science corporations to Legal firms. The supposed syndicate is also believed by many to be behind heavy lobbying for objectivist policies to minimize government interference and attempted culture wars to present profit over altruism as a moral positive.

The Phantom Syndicate's companies operate heavily in Omega and Illium, and it is believed that the company's leadership has heavily shifted towards the Volus over the years as a belief shared by the companies believed to run the organization is that money is power; and business savvy and wealth have long come to be associated with the Volus. Those who study the subject hope that the Volus will be able to temper the vulture capitalism and amorality of the Syndicate.

* * *

Author's notes: You thought I was going to go the cliche'd route of having a First contact war at all, didn't you?


	3. Frostburn

_"Piracy is undoutably the greatest concern of our time, tied with terrorism." _

\- Tevos

"_To safeguard the holdings of the dominion is to safeguard the progress of humanity._"

\- Yuri.

* * *

_Planet Dracul, 3rd of June, 2467, thirty years post contact._

Anton Cioban examined the information presented to him by the terminal. All readings so far indicated normalcy. Given the nature of the work at the Giorgi biological research plant, that was good. Headquarters got testy when resource grants were wasted upon failure and mediocrity with no further development apparent down the pipeline, and Anton had no intention of failing to live up to expectations.

He looked to one of his colleagues, a big bearded fellow who seemed almost too large for his lab gear, and then spoke up. "Grigor, could you test the thought inhibitor?" Anton asked, giving the larger man a datapad with some stored files.

"_Yes of course. Is it acting up?_" He asked as he shifted his gaze from his colleague to the datapad.

"_Unfortunately._" Anton sighed, briefly placing a hand on the right side of his face and shaking his head as an expression of exasperation.

"_It's still growing, give it time, and I'm sure it will calm down._" Grigor said, slapping Anton on the lowermost part of his left shoulder and causing him to jolt forward a step or two while he felt the sting of a thousand bees ride up his back.

Control your god damn arm. Anton cursed beneath his breath as he checked the instrumentation again before looking at the feeds into the chamber where they were growing their newest project. An attempt at creating a new sapient species for combat, one that would help cement Epsilon's position in the universe.

Covered in a carapace of varying shades of grey, lighter on the bottom and darker on the top, the creature had an angular; stealth bomber like appearance which were only enhanced by it's vast set of wings. A hooked beak was flanked by a pair of lower mandibles; meant to provide extreme bite strength, and it's compound eyes were aligned in a long strip across it's armoured head. Including it's wings, it had eight limbs, all slender but possessed of powerful musculature, densified and enhanced by careful application of Tiberium, two large limbs ended in scythe like grabbing appendages while two smaller manipulator arms had clawed hands. A long, skeletal tail dragged out from behind, ending in a wicked scythed spike.

About the mass of a fair sized dinosaur at ten tons with a wingspan longer than most whales were from head to tail were from head to tail, the creature seemed to regard the cameras with clear distaste. A sense of the thing staring right at him through the cameras was unshakeable, it's baleful gaze and dreadful clicking seeming to intensify.

He could scarcely imagine what it went through in the testing. Constant recalibrations of infusions, psychic neuralization, forcible biotic implantations, constant updates for it's psychic implants. Well, now it was time for new implants. He would need a long night with his wife and daughter to forget what he was about to do, and he shut his eyes as the process began.

As the process began through the walls of the facility and as the hours rolled by, he could hear it's anguish. A cry quite unlike anything he had ever heard, an ululating, low warbling shriek of pain, one that only faded when it was subdued, and one that picked right back up as it began to awake to post-surgical soreness. And sometimes, he could swear he heard it calling his name.

With the hours past, he prepared to head home, Catalina and Anastasia were waiting for him. He had plans to drown his angst with a healthy supply of alcohol and a warm bed. As he walked his way to the entrance of the facility, he saw a figure in black and green armor of a make that he couldn't identify, the emblem of a black spiked skull flanked by two lightning bolts while a black skeletal hand reached for it; all laid into a green octagon, a helm that seemed ever so vaguely reminiscent of a blank face ribbed with vents on the cheek area capped with a stahlhelm, with a leering corpse green T-visor staring out at the world. On the shoulders stood green hexagons with crossed black daggers at their center.

A brief moment passed as he stared at the figure. He didn't recognize the armor, or any of the symbology. What he did know, was that it was not authorized, and he was certainly not able to take it on in combat. It rippled with a cloaking device and disappeared, leaving Anton scrambling to activate the alarm with a mental command. But it seemed the wraithlike figure was faster with pushing a button.

Before the thought could be completed, his world was filled with smoke, fire, and noise. A series of thundrous blasts ripped through the facility, and when he finally regained control of his senses he found that his view had dropped several feet and tilted sideways, leaving him to stare up at the figure who had reappeared, almost as if to taunt him. He tried to push himself up, but the wraith stepped over him and walked out of sight just before a flood of mutants and Terminus raiders appeared.

The emblems on the mutants he finally recognized, Crystal's Fury...the howling aliens they brought in, blood pack.

A number of initiates filed in, bringing focusing carbines to send forth their pyrokinetic bursts towards the intruders, three of the forgotten went down; burnt to cinders, screaming for a brief moment, making a few motions of running before dropping to the ground as charred corpses that reeked of a vaguely pork-like smell.

In an earlier age the Krogan taking point would have used a light machine gun firing mass accelerator rounds. In this modern age however, he used a particle casting version of the same. Spectacular streaks of energy licked out as heat resistant vorcha helped him take aim, some dying, some initiates already falling to the fire, but the initiates soon learned to bow to the Krogan as one was sliced in half; his upper torso going flying while his legs flopped to the ground steaming, another's head burst as soon as his shields and armor failed, a body with nothing but a charred stump slumping over deployable low cover panels, a third had holes torn through her that definitely signaled the end of her life.

The Krogan sniffed the air before looking down at Anton, who was currently doing his very best to play dead.

"_This Pyjak's still breathing._" The Krogan snarled as he kicked the scientist in the side while the forgotten terrorists gathered around, assuming positions to ensure that all was clear before advancing.

"_He's a scientist, take him, we need him to release the creature. I don't want him hurt anymore than he has to be or I swear I am docking your pay._" One of the hooded mutants hissed at the Krogan who snorted.

"_Fine by me._" The Krogan snorted as he had one of the Vorcha heft up the terrified scientist while accompanying Varren; some showing clear signs of Tiberium alteration, soon followed up to their masters, snarling at the Tiberium fiends the Mutants had brought along for much the same purpose.

"_Get your asses in gear, we've got payday waiting for us!_" The Krogan warlord shouted, and finally, now in some control of his senses, Anton was able to see some tiberium growth on the Krogan, which would explain his greater size and the ease with which he held that heavy machine gun equivalent proton gun. So much for the Tiberium embargo, he thought as more mercenaries and terrorists flowed into the building like ants invading a termite nest.

* * *

Warlord Virog liked his new gun. Particle casters were still something of a rarity, expensive too, but he bet his hide that they'd become the standard soon enough, even as Mass Accelerator rifles continued to advance and new exciting weapons flooded the market. Anything that could let him mow down enemies better made him a very happy Krogan to say the least.

He and a bunch of other mercs were being paid good money to storm this facility. Not just money, he reminded himself, but Tiberium too. Tib fetched excellent prices, and was incredibly useful even if you didn't sell it anyway.

He was brought out of his musings by a storm of railgun fire from the gatling weapon of a harpoon, forcing him to take cover as the genetically altered armoured freak of a cyborg stood tall, gargling angrily as more jump jet using initiates quickly blasted up onto high vantage points while more cover panels unfurled.

Rage gas grenades were thrown into the area, he quickly barked an order to pull back. "Get out of there, Biotics I need you to push that crap back!" He shouted through his helmet as he took any cover he could from the withering barrage of rounds from the Harpoon's roaring weapon.

He needed only see one of the Crystal's Fury terrorists start firing into his own units to know that an adept level telepath had also entered the fray. One of the Biotics unfortunately he scowled as he popped up long enough to make some shots at the Epsilon guards, ducking right back down when the Harpoon turned the sweep of it's gatling cannon right at him.

Damn, he had to respect firepower like that. Not respecting that kind of firepower would get him killed, and while he was certainly no bedwetting Pyjak, he rather liked living.

He threw a fusion grenade bought from the Alliance, hurling the miniature nuclear device over his head and throwing himself to the ground when the whump of the shockwave and roar of the blast cut through the already roaring noise of the room, he looked up and the Harpoon was gone and the Adept was busy collecting his senses, just long enough for the Krogan to chop him down with his heavy particle caster, he heard a scream and the squelch of flesh being crushed into a pulp even as it was flung about in all directions and charred beyond recognition, hissing all the while.

"_Did our friend turn off their defense turrets?_" He asked over the commlinks as he advanced through the now cleared room, taking a right just as the very thorough map he had acquired from his employers directed him to.

"_Yes Warlord. What do you plan on bringing in? Gunships?_" Came in the reply as the krogan grinned, evil thoughts rapidly forming in his mind.

"_You think too small. I want a drop of tank company Wrecker one klick from my position due north by north east, and yes, bring in the gunships._" He grinned viciously as the forgotten kicked in another door, letting out a spray of weapons fire into the room to suppress the telekinetic adept they almost immediately ran into.

He instinctively threw himself to the side, hearing barriers collapse and bodily tissue getting obliterated as a series of forgotten were torn apart by a hellstorm of metal shards hurled by the adept while the distinctive "deewp" sound of initiates letting loose pyrokinetic bursts began to fill his ears.

"_Flank their positions damn it or I will eat your fucking heads off._" He shouted at the Vorcha under his command as he threw in some grenades to get the defenders to recoil at least somewhat, if only for a moment. His instincts buzzed and he dashed as far away from the door as possible, leaving the wide open door behind him as a miniature sun's worth of glowing green starflare plasma exploded and incinerated the Vorcha, Humans, Mechs, and assorted terrorists, pirates, and mercs who were just standing there moments ago.

"_Damn, they've got a night terror._" He grumbled, gritting his teeth as the facility shook with heavy mass accelerator fire. He definitely needed some bigger guns to deal with an enemy that big. Or at least, a more clever plan than what he was thinking of until just now.

"_Aww yeah, now that's what I'm talking about._" He whooped as a trio of heavy rounds slammed into the building and broke open some of the walls, letting the night sky's dim lights on into the building, if he read the plans right, they might even be able to provide some indoors support in some places. That made him giddy, ah the destruction they'd wreak.

The launch of another plasma blast quickly snapped him out of his musings and informed him of the need to find a better spot to push his advance through.

"_Where's those flankers I asked for?_" He snarled into his commlinks as heavy footsteps informed him that the creature with it's support had emerged to start a sweep maneuver; it's gatling cannon revving up and letting loose the storm, his ears once again being assaulted in the moments before his helmets' compensators kicked in.

"_I need reinforcements, now you lazy whoresons!_" He roared into the comms as his cover rapidly disintegrated under the fire of the nightmare, but even through all the noise of battle he was able to tell when a plasma cannon was being charged.

And as if to answer his summons, a tank smashed straight through the wall, dozens of tons of steel and fury dragged it's turret as the initiates fell back in good order, feeling the stinging attentions of hastily added particle casters mounted on the sleek, angular vehicle while the nightmare bellowed his challenge.

He had heard stories of the prowess of nightmares, but he never quite imagined that a Turian made MX-731 Mawblade tank would be reeling from a direct hit from a starflare cannon, nor that the thing would actually start walking towards the vehicle, the antares cannon on it's back slowly raising itself into position as it gurgled incomprehensibly beneath it's thick suit of armor. After doing a brief spin from a glancing shot to the shoulder by the main gun of the tank that caused quite the score into the pauldron as it slid off, the thing decided to charge in, enormous pincers on it's suit seeming all too noticeable now.

Crystal's Fury terrorists frantically scampered back, firing away with their mass accelerator rifles; having had difficulty acquiring particle casters or directed energy weapons of which their fire was punctuated with but a smattering of such weapons. Some grenade launchers made themselves known on the hide of the nightmare, but the initiates guarding them accounted well for themselves as the Telekine adepts crushed more than a few forgotten into pulp with but a squeezing action of their minds. Even more ground was lost to them when the harpoons came roaring in with gatling weapons, forcing them into cover while Biotics tried to bring up shields to slow down the counter-offensive from Epsilon.

The results of the clash between monster and machine were obscured to him as a dream weaver's clicking behind him made him acutely aware as to it's presence. Like organic terror drones, the creatures scuttled forward to him, clicking and buzzing as they oozed rage gas out of their pores. Yet more initiates followed behind them, lead by a trio of electrokine adepts whose streaking arcs of Thor's fury zapped him to the ground, twitching as stars danced behind his eyes while the dream-weavers rushed forward to draw fire from those members of his group that survived.

Most would have probably been killed outright by the lightning he received, but he was a old, strong Krogan who had willingly infused himself with Tiberium, his armorsuit had a good combination of insulatives and conductors in the right place in the anticipation of having to face tesla weaponry, and he had placed on some magnetic shield projectors to bolster his defense. As Varrens and Fiends sought to jump on and claw at the five meter night terror as it started tearing into the tank, he picked himself up, not even flinching as several vorcha and mutants were burned to ash by the adepts and initiates. He didn't even blink as a Krogan was torn apart by the dream-weavers.

No fear was displayed when he dived for a missile launcher dropped by one of the dead vorcha, hoisted it up, and loaded a fresh warhead. Not even when the tank that had driven into the wide open hallway was finally crushed by the victorious night terror did he show any hint of being scared. Rather, he pulled the trigger and let loose a warhead, reveling as it exploded among the adepts with a fusion warhead and cleared a large path through it's scouring nuclear flames. Oh he had to duck back under cover alright, but now the way was clear for him to trudge on by while the Crystal's Fury terrorists rallied with renewed support from the Blood Pack and fresh troops coming in from the entrances.

He turned around to let loose with his particle beam caster, laughing raucuously as enemies were mowed down by his beloved gun. Violence and noise swirled around him, snipers sought to add their instrument to the cacophany just as heavy weapons fire was traded. Bodies hit the floor, filled with holes, charred, torn apart, flensed, crushed, or otherwise mutilated in a supremely intense fire-fight. A harpoon went down, consumed by a biotic warp that violently ripped the specially crafted supersoldier to pieces and finally silencing it's lethal gatling gun. A Krogan was struck by a virus round from a sniper, and gagged before exploding into toxic green gas.

Initiates struck by shotgun fire from charging mutants went down with bloody, pulpy holes in their chest after repeated fire, only for the mutants to burn from unfolding antares thermal wave turrets disconnected from the external defense grid, the lucky ones flash frying into cinders and the unlucky ones screaming as they flailed and cooked in the heat of fires leaping across their body. Varren and Fiends that had sought to pull down the night-terror found themselves faced with dream-weavers as the armored colossus swept it's fire across the room, the defeated hulk of the tank lying in smoking ruin while antares blasts, plasma spheres, and gatling guns made their presences unmissable.

Soldiers turned upon each other, guided by the will of Telepaths, though to Virog's annoyance the Telepaths Epsilon had were just more numerous and flat out better, forcing him to devote snipers to taking them down whenever they made their presences known. But numbers were on Virog's side. By the time grotesquely mutated and hugely muscular brutes and archers started to make themselves known, the Epsilon guard forces were losing. The night-terror had gone down, focused down by anti-tank fire, biotics, and psychics until it finally tumbled down and ceased to breathe due to multiple holes ripped through it's body and the fire of two more of Virog's tanks smashing into the hallway.

The archers, while certainly unusual due to their reliance on seemingly outdated technology, and certainly responsible for their fair share of havoc with their variable warhead superheated bolts that incinerated many an asset, had come too little, too late to change the tide and went down in time. The brutes, while fierce, were not capable of averting defeat for the security forces. And with the commander at the helm of their EVA system having already been dealt with by their wraith-like friend, the coordination of the security forces slowly began to disintegrate.

Rushing forward and bellowing his battle cry, Virog had switched to a massive shotgun, a six gauge by human reckoning, but entirely manageable for the mutant krogan. And when it spoke, it spoke with the kind of voice that let him turn men into meaty chunks and bits of armor and uniform, and the kind that was most assuredly welcome for it's ability to give pause to even brutes.

When he came face to face with a brute, he was quick to get out his battlehammer, deeming the action too close for the shotgun. The huge, hulking mass of muscle made the first step, roaring as it swung a fist at him, making him try to do his best to roll with the hit, stumbling to the left to get some range to get a good swing going with his weapon. The brute staggered, stumbled, but brought his fists down for a double hammer fist that made his shields flare with effort.

A kick to the face similarly made Virog stumble backwards, reeling from the blow, but he brought his hammer down again, smashing the brute back and setting the grey skinned beast up for a leftward blow to the head, more than enough to daze and dizzy it as he finally got enough space to bring out his shotgun and unload an automatic clip into the beast. Though the genetically engineered monster stood for a while due to shields and sheer toughness, soon it went down in bloody pieces and Virog could rejoin the rest of the fight.

After five more minutes of intense struggle, the fighting finally stopped. No more forces loyal to Yuri were throwing themselves at them, though he respected their ability to make him pay for every millimeter of advance in blood. He would have loved to remove his helmet to take in a whiff of that blood filled air, but he knew the risks of going barefaced in an arena that had just seen the kind of chemical warfare filled contest they had.

"_Get some explosives on that door, I want it breached yesterday!_" He shouted, looking through his HUD to see who was still left. Casualty rates were high, but nothing he wasn't expecting. Good, those who made it out of this would be stronger for what they've just gone through.

"_Where's the scientist? Is he still breathing?_" Virog snarled as he stepped out of the way of the krogan packing the detonation charges.

"_Yes Warlord, we've kept him out of the firefight._" One of the Vorcha snarled, almost barking at the Krogan through the comms Feh, he'd need a clubbing on the head for that tone, Virog thought as he made a mental note.

"_Our catch isn't much farther away according to this map, just one more hall way that our friend should have cleared for us. Everyone, I expect you to keep quiet, I'll be fucked if I know what other freaks they have in this facility_" Virog said, bringing up the map on his omnitool so that everyone could see how close they were to their objective, relishing in the excitement his soldiers were displaying.

Some echoes of combat continued to reach his ears, probably other groups of soldiers drawing away the guards he thought. His troops, he thought with pride. The other merc companies hired decided to take the longer, safer routes, but it seemed to him that their gamble hadn't paid off. The roar and snap of breaching charges assaulted his senses once again, but with the hole in the door now available, he was able to just walk through and take a short path through the hallway that followed.

A number of guards were seen, thoroughly dead via exotic weapons fire, leaving their corpses to decorate the room with all manners of bits and pieces of them missing. Almost certainly their wraithlike friend's doing.

The final door was already opened, and before them stood the chamber where the fruit of project Biomagus' labor was observed and administered from. The armoured black and green figure of the mysterious wraith awaited them, giving a subtle nod to the scientist and the console with which he had conducted many an operation on the bizarre creature seen on the view screens. So many lights, panels, screens, projectors and interfaces, all displaying data that Virog honestly wasn't interested in. All he cared about was the creature, and the bonus he'd get for being the first one to obtain it.

"_Now, either you can do this for us and I let you go, or I'm going to have to have one of the telepaths rip the information from you, and I start remembering how useful a pet scientist can be._"

"_You can't expect me t-to turn my back on Yuri! If I were to do this, I would be a dead man anyway!_" Anton protested, drawing a scoff from the krogan warlord before he motioned in over one of the surviving telepaths.

"_How little you must value your family. To deprive them of you because of your belief in the cause._" The wraith finally spoke in a professional, chilling voice as it flipped through his personnel data files, that spine tingling voice modulated through his helmet as the telepath started tearing into his mind, picking his brain to find what they needed.

"_But what you forget, is that if you do not devote yourself to the right cause, the cause will show it's lack of devotion to you._" The Wraith said as the Telepath, upon receiving what it needed to know, the Vorcha forced his hand onto the biometric scanner and implemented the command lines needed to start releasing the creature, who almost immediately exalted in seeing the doors of it's cage opening with a series of ululating clicks synchronized with the most unearthly roar imaginable as it stampeded out of the facility.

"_All troops, pull out to the ships and get ready to collect the package. We've got what we came for._" Virog ordered as the wraith regarded Anton closely.

"_Let us see what your creation thinks of you, shall we?_"

"_Hey, I want him working for me, you hear?_" Virog said, glowering at the Wraith.

"_Epsilon has what it takes to preserve his brain. The rest of him is not necessary._" He responded, prompting an evil grin to form beneath Virog's helmet as he produced one of the brain preservation kits, a jar filled with special solution and numerous tools for the extraction of the cerebrum, a grin that widened when Anton's moan of terror was heard. Soon, they had pushed the man out into the fields outside the facility, where the creature had emerged into the open, it's terrifying frame snarling and baying when it's ears caught wind of the name of the one it came to hate.

With a few tremendous steps, the six and a half meter tall creature had closed the distance to cioban and made him very aware of how big it's jaws were. It's hot breath lashed at him and prompted all those who felt it to step well back away from the monstrous winged abomination as it leered directly at Cioban.

"_You...are...Cioban._" It said in a voice like the rumble of a volcano, it's mandibles clicking onto it's lower jaw as it came within mere centimeters from just biting him in half where he stood.

A terrified squeak was all Anton could answer with. What went through his mind besides all consuming terror, was how it learned how to speak.

"_You caused me...pain...suffering. But I heard your words...your noisey electric buzzing and sound...and I learned...I learned more than what you wished. And I learned...to hate you._" It said, finishing it's last sentence with as much menace as possible as it reared it's head back, seemingly ready to deliver the killing blow.

"_We'll give him to you, just save the head will you?_" Virog asked of it, not even flinching from the massively larger organism.

"_We ask that you join us, mighty behemoth! Help us smite the foes of the forgotten, so that our name will be remembered!_" The mutant in the most ostentatious armor around said, throwing his hands apart and shouting at the monstrous thing.

"_Pah, would you work with those Wimps? Why not join us, we've got real firepower and a place for something like you._" Virog countered, sensing an opportunity in the engineered monster.

"_We had a deal Krogan, the beast is ours!_" The Forgotten shouted indignantly.

"_You can have anything that we leave behind, but this one's got promise._" He said, stepping forward to edge himself closer to the monster.

"_I am...no one's...but I will be willing to hear an...offer._" It said, it's words somewhat halting as it was still new to vocalizing them through it's throat.

"_You hate Cioban. I can offer you the information to make him hurt more than if you just kill him._ " The Wraith interjected, drawing the attentions of all three other speakers, each of them swiveling their heads towards the figure bearing the mark of the black hand.

It brought out a projection, a map with their current location highlighted, and another location not too far away similarly marked. A marking that made Anton shiver.

"_His family and friends._" The wraith offered as the engineered monster clicked it's mandibles as it brought it's head close to the wraith. The being studied the image closely, mentally plotting a course through skills implanted into it's brain. Yes, this would do for the creature, Virog could tell, he had a knack for telling when others were plotting. A quick lunge of it's head was enough to bring it's jaws to a position to snap Anton in half.

Virog didn't flinch like many of the mutants did, he actually smiled as the thing scooped up his legs and snapped it's beaked jaw shut, the crunch of bones shearing and wet squelch of flesh giving way being drowned out by screams of pain and the sound of the two halves of it's chitinous head slamming together before it took to the air with a jump and powerful beats of it's wings, letting him bleed out with full knowledge of what was to come, first it would level the homes of any friends he had made, then it would deal with his family.

* * *

_Minutes later, Cioban household_

Catalina was resting peacefully in bed. Dad worked late most of the time, so the seven year old was entirely used to him not being around much. The sound of people talking below soon alerted her to people sharing the house with herself and her mother however, and she quickly puthlled herself out of her bed in response to this reverie. Knowing that her mother was a stickler for making sure that her daughter was always presentable, she took the time to quickly brush her hair and teeth, keeping her silver hair; a product of her parents' choice rather than genes, neat and bundling it in a pony tail. The red eyed girl happily went down the stairs and shushed her pet when the somewhat reptilian creature started to show it's excitement at the arrival of a familiar scent.

Looking into her home's living room, she was met with her mother and her brother sitting together and having a chat while some arbiters helped themselves to the snacks she left for them. Uncle Dimitri was an Arbiter-Proselyte, making sure that everyone was safe and that law-breakers got their due. It seemed like a nice job, but Catalina wanted to be an inquisitor when she grew up, it seemed like a much more fun thing to do than police work!

"_How is Anton?_" Dimitri asked, the coat hanger physiqued man clasping his hands together and offering Anastasia a pleasant smile.

"_Anton is quite busy as of late, Headquarters really wants to see his project's prototype this year so he's been needed to work long hours._" She responded, tilting her head ever so slightly to the left and offering him a smile in return, much more muted in comparison to his to be sure, but it made her face light up all the same.

"_The bastard needs to relax more often I think! He's going to kill himself with his work someday._" Dimitri chuckled as he took a sip from his tea cup, rubbing his chin almost immediately after finishing.

"_True enough. I'm hoping he'll take his vacation weeks sooner than later._" She sighed, slouching slightly in her chair before she noticed Catalina in the distance, looking through the railings of the stairs.

"_Catalina, what are you doing up?_" She asked just as Dimitri turned his head around to Catalina and let out a hearty laugh.

"_Caty! How are you?_" He said, throwing his arms wide as he picked himself out of his chair, giving his niece the biggest smile he could.

"_God how you've grown!_" He said enthusiastically as Catalina dared to step forward, looking around the room before breaking into a short run into his arms, where she was quickly picked up and spun around by the joyful figure. Laughs were shared and hair was ruffled by knuckles before she was placed back on the ground.

"_Where have you been?_" Catalina asked, eyes wide and smile bright.

"_Ah I've been doing my work, seeing that all the crooks are put where they belong and the people are safe._" He said with a grin, placing his hands on his hips and positively beaming, to the chortling of Anastasia and the concerned looks of his operatives.

"_Did you catch anyone Uncle?_" Catalina said, looked up at him with a gaze filled with wonder, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"_Ah yes of course. I recently caught Phantom Syndicate drug dealing operations red handed. The Syndicate is denying all ties of course, but I've managed to put some in prison. I'll let the inquisition take over from there._" He said , patting her on the head after he was done speaking.

"_Anything else Uncle?_" She said before noticing a heavy thump on the ground that briefly made everything in the room jolt.

"_What was that?_" She asked before freezing just as she heard her pet snarling, yapping and hissing at something she couldn't see.

"_Merdag, please be quiet!_" Catalina shouted up at the four limbed pet as it continuously made noise at some unseen aggressor.

Then came another "THUMP" followed by low humming sound followed in turn by the whiplash of a shockwave that forcefully shut down all power to that which received it and blew in the windows. Shrieks were heard from Catalina, short sharp screams of fear as glass blew into the room. Brief murmuring went throughout the room as the occupants of the house wildly theorized as to the cause of the sudden loss of power and the sounds.

"_Catalina, get Merdag please._" Anastasia ordered, and to her tremendous relief; Catalina quickly went up to get the animal. Relief that was vindicated when the silence was cut by a trilling series of clicks and an ululating roar and the sound of many buildings crumbling or burning. Then came the screaming of the neighbours and the roar and flash of rapidly combusting households as something sweeped over the rows of houses, pushing in their prefabricated walls and setting anything that could burn alight with an eerie yellow flame. Then the roof caved in as an impossible sight made itself very apparent.

A click filled roar was heard, a sound intermixed with the howled snarl of her family name as it began tearing open the house, shrugging off the almost immediate pyrokinetic flames that erupted across it's carapace, mandibles on the lower jaw splaying themselves outwards as it focused on one of the arbiters for a brief moment, after which he, as if on cue, imploded with a horrific combination of screaming that was quickly replaced by wet squelching, metal bending and snapping, ceramics shattering, and bones crunching. The other arbiters in the room fell to the same trick soon afterwards, and in an instant Dmitri forced Anastasia down as the monster continued to tear open the house.

"**_Come out!_**" It snarled in a voice that no human throat could have uttered, a voice that made the room shake and quiver with it's all too apparent anger and rage. There was the roar of noise as Dmitri forced himself up and telekinetically launched a couch at the creature, pinging against its shielding and drawing forth a hateful snarl from the monstrosity.

Catalina squealed with terror and fright as she tried to hide anywhere she could, anywhere that wouldn't bring her under the blazing red gaze of the behemothic monster that had assailed her household. Noise overwhelmed her, fear sank into her very bones as more of the house started to crumble from the creature's flailings. She dared to take a look, a mistake if she ever made one.

Sweeping up dmitri in its clawed manipulator limbs, it flinched from rail pistol slugs to the head that brought up it's barriers. It flinched yes, but it showed no other signs of pain as it roared back at his final words of defiance. "_I die for Yuri!_" Dmitri shouted, only to be met with. "**_You die for nothing!_**" as it's other arm grabbed him at the upper body. A twisting motion was made, the terrible sound of bones cracking and flesh rupturing was heard, then came the pull. A spray of blood and organs that instinctively made her dinner want to escape through her throat decorated the room.

A terrifying roar of victory was made as it finally turned to Anastasia and opened it's mouth. To its shock however, she had stopped whining with fear. She instead, store down the creature in as dignified a posture as she could. Covered in blood, her expression hardened as she spread her arms wide. No matter, a spray of liquid rushed forth, followed by a click in the back of throat that made the spray erupt into a brilliant geyser of flames that reduced her to ash where she had stood.

As flammables combusted and anything that could explode did, it lurched its head up towards the night sky, roaring its triumph to the world. Then it turned towards the last remaining target. It smelled the air, its mind probed for thoughts, and it turned its head right towards the quivering catalina on the upper level of the house. Its mind began to work, but it never got the chance.

Alerted by the sudden power outages, the blazing inferno that was ripping through the area, and the reports of frightened nearby observers from the time the first of the creature's strikes against the friends of the Ciobans as well as the word of traveling Quarian merchants, the Arbiters had brought in the colonial guard, diverting forces meant to deal with the sudden pirate and mercenary raid. Mass driver fire from would be Quarian converts to epsilonism smacked into the things back, eliciting a quick turn and a hateful roar. Arbiter fire soon followed; with pyrokinetic pulses ripping across its body and warming many points of its carapace until the afflicted points started to glow red, then came a full platoon of gatling tanks that made their opinion on the matter very clear. In a panic, it drove it's biotic and psychic power entirely towards it's own defense and quickly released a disabling pulse to buy it enough time to pick itself off the ground and escape.

A horrible wail went through the air as slugs followed it's path, but soon the beast was gone, and Catalina was left alone. Alone, the fear took time to subside as she could feel the warmth of the entire neighborhood burning through the rubble that shielded her, even as the Arbiters filed into the site and telekines quickly shoved rubble away to make the work of the others easier. She felt a quick probe for thoughts from a telepath, then the grip of telekinetics on her body to lift her down to the waiting team of arbiters. She heard "Keelah" and "By Yuri", but she didn't properly register them. She was shut away in her own mental landscape, all but dead to the world that she had just seen come crashing down.

The pet followed, deemed also worth the rescuing as all the barriers needed to seal off the crime scene were placed behind her just as she was brought to an APC for transport back to the precinct. It was then that she realized the magnitude of what had happened, after having stood alone among the dead with the pig stink of burning flesh filling her nostrils and black soot clinging to her body. It was then that she finally started to cry.

* * *

_Research facility_

Landing back at the ruined facility, the creature made its report to the waiting mercenaries. "_It is done, and I...have made my choice._" It hissed as it felt the pain of some grazing injuries suffered from the gatling tanks.

"_Hopefully the right one._" Virog said, maintaining his feral, toothy grin.

"_I choose...both._" It responded.

"_You will explain this, creature!_" The Mutant demanded, anger as well as confusion present in his voice.

"_We will form a new organization...a new pact. As one._" It hissed as it gazed around, sizing up the figures, and noting that the wraith had disappeared back into the shadows.

"_Our bands will be together. From this beginning, Fury and Blood will...be united._" It continued as it gazed towards the landing craft that had brought in the attack force.

"_We must go now, but...our future will be a...bright one..._" It said at last.

* * *

_Citadel, Days later._

_Citadel, Days later._

Councillor Tevos needed some time to unwind. A visit to a restuarant suited her nicely. No hard partying or drinking at a bar, no, she was much too old for that. Just some light chats, good food, and cool drinks would suit her just fine. A glass of carbonated fruit juice sat next to her, and some fungal steak and vegetables, all freshly cooked, were waiting for her to enjoy.

She was soon surprised by Din Korlack sitting himself right across from her, the Volus councillor hefting himself onto the chair. Many other councillors came and went, but Volus lived for quite a while, and Korlack certainly wasn't looking for reasons to recuse himself from power anytime soon.

"_Korlack, what are you doing here?_" She asked, trying to mask her surprise that someone who couldn't partake in a Restaurants fare would bring himself here.

"_Am I not permitted to see friends Tevos?_" The Volus said, inhaling audibly at the end of his sentence, whatever expression he may have had under there being completely unreadable as he tilted his head to the left.

"_Fair enough._" Tevos said, shrugging as she did so while Korlack got out his pad.

"_Have you seen the news recently?_" Korlack asked, sucking in another breath. Tevos had to admit that no matter how long she spent with the Volus Councillor the breath thing was never anything less than grating at times.

"_The Batarians demanding our backing in space disputes with the Alliance? Otherwise I'm taking a well deserved break until the six of us have to convene again. In the meantime I'm trying to stay away from work matters._" She asked before quickly placing some of the vegetables in her mouth and chewing thoroughly.

"_Apparently there was a big attack on a remote Dominion world. The Earth-Clanners fear the loss of tens of thousands of lives. Real lives, not clones or genetic constructs._" Korlack responded as he looked through the datapad hooked into his suit mounted omnitool.

"_Blood Pack, Eclipse, and Mutant terrorists. The mutant-clan paid the other two off with Tiberium. No word on the Phantom Syndicate._" He said, bringing up the necessary facts and data needed for Tevos to get a clear grasp of what had happened.

"_I'm less worried about the harm done to the Dominion than I am about what they'll do._" She said. In truth she had been secretly working to try and dismantle Epsilon for thirty years, finding some way to put cracks in the wall of Yuri's empire. Like with her feelings regarding the Hegemony, she personally dreamed of a future where both governments had collapsed and been replaced with something better. It may take generations, even by Asari standards, but she was convinced that the Dominion had to go.

"_Everyone is concerned with what everyone else will do. When I pushed for acqueiscing to their demands for element zero technology I did so knowing we traded nothing of real value so that the Midgard-clan next to them would be compelled to give us something of value in return for that very same technology without antagonizing them. I'm sure they'll bribe some pirate gangs to take revenge without causing a storm. They're quiet overall._" Korlack said in response.

"_I don't think we should have given them anything but sanctions and scorn._" Tevos said, a frown decorating her face as she took a swig from her glass and more bites from her food.

"_Sanctions haven't done much to the Batarians have they? Sure they're poorer for it but they still fund slavers and pirates. To make them change it would be better to make what we object to unprofitable for them. Self-reliant economies don't care if you shut them off. And it's very easy for a multi-planet civilization to be self reliant Tevos. You don't like their social engineering? Fine, find ways to make the risk overcome the value. Preferably without starting a war with the Earth-clan._" Korlack said, his voice seeming almost haughty in how it carried itself.

"_Assassinating Yuri would be a start._" She muttered half-way to herself.

"_And start a bloody civil war or incite them to seek revenge. Hardly a profitable venture. And even if there wouldn't be any fallout, I could gather a thousand of the best spectres and they would all be dead before laying a finger on Yuri. He's not just well guarded, he's almost godlike in personal power. No, I say keep on with the attempts at brain draining them._" Korlack countered, continuing to fiddle with his omnitool as he looked through the news.

"_I'm well aware of that. I'm simply just lapsing into what I wish would happen._" She sighed as she leaned back into her chair, taking a peak outside to get another look at the wondrous views the Citadel offered.

"_The Midgard-Clan are reporting a rash of slaver and pirate raids recently._" Din Korlack said as he looked through his omnitool, his voice sinking as he thought over the consequences. Nobody liked dealing with the Batarians longer than they had to.

Tevos soon buried her head in her hands. When she asked for her job to be more interesting, by the goddess she didn't mean like this.

* * *

**Media depicting Epsilon as villains attracts controversy**

"Tossima Claciria, a noted Asari technothriller author, created a novel known as "Purple Storm Rising" that many criticize as overly provocative twenty five years ago, when hardly anyone of importance was born since contact began with the Unitary Dominion. But compared to a rather substantial number of more recent media, the depiction of the Dominion in Purple Storm Rising seems positively tame. Novels such as "Voyage of the Old Varren" depict the Dominion as a nation of psychotic murderers and rapists, while others depict them as a state easily prone to ultranationalist coups that launch wars where the villains gleefully cackle over how they will conquer the galaxy, only for their initial victories; if they get any initial victories; to be reversed and the war brought to their homestead and leading in the downfall of Epsilon. Others simply have Yuri decide to enact plans of galactic conquest. The video game series "Call of the Battlefield: Honor Company: Galactic Operations" have shown Epsilon launching invasions that would "require teleporters behind ever bathroom door in C-Space and Alliance territory" as well. Many believe that this is an incredibly unfair depiction of the Dominion, and only serves to further divide them from C-Space."

**Another doomsday prophecy bust**

"Yet another one of many prophecies claiming that the galaxy as we know it will end has come to nothing as no manner of apocalypse befalls the galaxy in the year 2467. While the chance of conflict between the Alliance and the Hegemony remains high, such a conflict is not expected to match the devastation of the Krogan Rebellions or the Rachni Wars. Indeed it would seem that we are set for another largely quiet year as a general state of peace continues between the great powers of galactic politics. In financial terms, the economies of all major states have continued to remain stable and no great political crises are either in motion or appear to be in the making."

**Rachni scare on mining colony **

"The mining colony of Yorok G-3X reportedly saw what was believed to be a surviving Rachni ship by the miners, but upon investigation by local authorities; vetted by experts of the Rachni wars, including a Krogan veteran of the conflict; the scare has turned out to simply be a stowaway artificial life form believed to be the product of the Dominion's Headquarters, known for their many strides in genetic research both of the ordinary and the entirely unsavory. The creature was reported to be escaped by Dominion officials, and termination of the aggressive creature was sought."

**Attack on Epsilon planet by pirates! **

"Planet Dracul, once designated planet K-2L when first discovered by Earth-native astronomers in the year 2003 by their calendar, has recently been subjected to an attack by space pirates who have caused a great deal of damage; including to a research facility, and have destroyed a number of homes in the area. Heads of state, even of general enemies of Epsilon, have offered condolences to the Dominion in an attempt to provide an image of solidarity against the threats of terrorism and piracy the galaxy over. The death toll of this attack has so far been counted as over thirty two thousand"

**Yuri chairs new Babylon Pact meeting**

"The Babylon Pact, the core of what is often informally called the "Purple Bloc" has announced that Supreme Heirophant Yuri has chaired the newly started summit of the Babylon Pact's member states. Formed by Epsilon within five years of its opening to the wider galaxy following the Dominion securing an Alliance with the Krogan, the Quarians, and a number of other Non-C-Space corporate and state entities in the treaty of Babylon, the Babylon Pact posits itself as an alternative system to the Council's authority. Having secured alliances with the Quarian Migrant Fleet by offering them refits, upgrades, and repairs of their fleet as well as upgrades and a number of suitable worlds charted by the dominions to settle and gene-therapy to cure the Quarians of their weak immune systems, and the Krogan by both curing the Genophage and helping the Krogan to set up a central system of government under the United Clans of the Krogan; the Babylon Pact has been accused as "expanding the Epsilon Dominion by other means" and has pushed the Alliance towards closer relations with the Citadel.

The revelation of the Dominion's genophage cure in particular lead to the Tuchankan crisis, but a number of factors; such as the Forgotten declaring that they would fight alongside Epsilon if the Council "moved to deprive the innocent of their right to raise children and bring new oppressions" in recognition of growing ties of empathy between the mutants and the Krogans; as well as declarations of support by many in the Terminus Systems, uncertainty about Epsilon's capabilities, and the Alliance's reluctance to join a war against Epsilon for the sake of "keeping an underclass neutered", lead to the council backing down. Since then, the Babylon Pact has been thought of as one of C-Space's greatest strategic risks, alongside the largely Batarian Hegemony friendly Terminus Systems. It is expected that this summit of the Babylon Pact will be aimed at working out the place of the pact's newest member, the Serene Mycenex Kingdom within the pact's structures."

* * *

Codex Entries:

**Phenomenon: Psionics;**

Psionics are a key facet of humanity and the Scrin. While Psychics form a minority among the Alliance and Forgotten, Epsilon has engendered a one hundred percent incident of psychic ability among it's human citizen base and it is Epsilon who holds the most advanced Psionics in the known universe, excepting the Scrin, of whom little data is available about. Psionics, or Psychics as some refer to it, are considered distinct from Biotics as they are not generated through manipulations of mass effect fields. Rather, these abilities seem to be generated from the mind itself.

Essentially the imposing the will on reality, psychic powers have a wide variety of effects. For simplicity, they are divided into Telekinesis, Telepathy, Psychoenergetics, and Psychobiologics. Telekinesis is the field most similar to Biotics and involves applying physical force through one's mind, typically in the form of barriers, lifting, pulling, pushing, and crushing actions, hurtling objects, or simply moving objects without actually contacting them. Telepathy is the art of mind to mind action, whose most commonly known applications are mind-reading, mind control, and mental communication, though it is more than possible to utilize telepathy to directly attack the psyche. Psychoenergetics create and direct energy through mental action, something commonly seen in Yuri's initiates; who as part of their military training all learn basic pyrokinetic ability.

Psychobiologics is a substantially rarer field that involve control over biological functions. Due to being much more complicated, it is rarely seen even in Yuri's forces. Psychobiologics typically learn to control their own bodily functions before attempting that of any other, and cross-species psychobiologics requires yet more training and focus. The first sign that such a thing even existed was brought to Yuri's attention by Malver, second in command of Scorpion Cell who could manipulate his bodily needs to survive in the desert with far fewer supplies than a non-augmented human normally would.

Psionics are said to be expressible through either genetic conditions or through artificial means. Naturally occuring psionics are difficult to focus and control (though Epsilon seems to have found a way to massively ease the process of using genetic based Psychics) and so far only seem to appear in humans, though it is believed that the Scrin are a wholly innately psychic species, while artificial conditions can be induced in other species through implantation, surgery, and to a small degree; through intense focus or willpower. However, in the last case the effect is so small as to be nearly statistically insignificant in the face of other factors that occur in such situations such as Adrenaline or intense training, and can easily be missed if one is not already specifically looking for it.

The Strength of one's Psychic abilities seem to be determined by a combination of genetics, the quality of one's implants and regulators, the mental ability of the user in question, one's discipline and focus, the training and experience in the "school" that they are using that they've had, and how long they have actively expressed psychic abilities. Epsilon's inner circle is considered to have the most potent psychics, with Yuri of course being the first and foremost among them. Epsilon is believed to have more and more powerful psychics than the rest of the galaxy put together and is recognized as the unquestioned master of psychic research, with the Alliance having the second greatest number of psychics.

Among non-humans, Krogan in search of a route to further power frequently do whatever they need to do in order to receive Psychic surgery, and the number of Psychic Krogan continues to grow, especially as more Krogan flock to Epsilon for it's work on a genophage cure. Turians are considered well suited for Psychic abilities due to their cultural emphasis on discipline and focus, though the Citadel's own Psychic research lags substantially behind the human powers. On the other hand, cabals of Psychic Turians are becoming an increasingly common sight, and Psychic Turian Specters are a powerful force for order. The Salarian Union continues to keep it's psychic research program under wraps, though it is believed that STG teams are their forerunners in this field.

The Asari republic is reluctant to delve deep into the field, but is believed to share research with other citadel members, and there are a handful of Psychic Asari going around. The Hanar and Drell have made some strides into the field, but continue to remain reluctant to advertise any results, something that they share with the Elcor. The Volus pour most of their effort into telepathy for the business advantages it provides, and are second behind the Salarians in terms of Citadel psychic research. The Batarian Hegemony's propaganda feeds boast of unparalleled success in this new burgeoning field of research, but intelligence reports cast considerable doubts on these claims. Quarian psychics are primarily prevalent in those who have converted to Epsilonism.

**Treaties: Treaty of Firaxen;**

The Treaty of Firaxen was abolished by unanimous vote of the council not long after Human contact, beginning a massive galactic arms race fueled by the proliferation of human manufacturing technology. National navies have increased exponentially in size, especially due to the exponential decrease in the cost of maintaining military units. Due to constant construction; hard numbers on fleet sizes are difficult to ascertain. The Turian Primarch however, boasts that if something like the Rachni wars were to happen again; the galaxy would be militarized enough to crush it flat in an instant.

In the past, the treaty of Firaxen was meant to discourage naval arms build up by placing restrictions on the fleets of member governments of the Citadel due to the tremendous destructive power of a dreadnought. The Turians, being seen as the main peacekeepers, would be allowed to make the most of them, the Volus, Asari, Elcor, Hanar, and Salarians, being council members, would be given permission to make a healthy number of them, while council associate species would be the most heavily limited. The ratio is 5:3:1. For every five dreadnoughts made by the Turians, only three would be made by any other given council member, and only one by any given council associate or Turian client state.

The expansion of the number of potential threats to the Citadel revealed through contact with humanity and the revelation of NEXUS and the Scrin has lead to massive arms build up not only in Citadel Space, but also in the Terminus Systems and other areas. Even the Quarian Migrant fleet has expanded massively as acquiring and building new ships became progressively easier and easier. Many criticize this state of affairs as it would make future wars far more devastating and due to it's costs, but others are highly supportive of the massive influx of defensive efforts, believing that it makes the galaxy safer.

**Substances: Tiberium;**

Tiberium is a material that while radioactive, curiously lacks any sort of half-life. Best described as a mutative, assimilative living ecosystem unto itself, Tiberium is capable of radically altering it's own properties given time. When first discovered, Tiberium was formed in pods and was classified as a "pseudo-organic" substance due to it's reliance on the usage of mutated trees or other viable subjects as spore producers, whereupon these launched spores would mature into new tiberium pods. Tiberium was first noted for the danger it posed to the Earth's environment, and its usefulness, as it was not only uniquely suited for nanofabrication, but also for energy production; massively outstripping even Nuclear fusion in terms of power generation and being useful in the production of anti-matter and as it leeched useful minerals from deep inside the planet, it made conventional mining unnecessary. In light of the revelation of Tiberium's connection to the Scrin, it has been theorized that Tiberium is as useful as it is as a means of convincing the populations of planets targeted by the Scrin to use it and thus spread it, developing an economic "addiction" to the substance and thus be unable to contain it before it eradicates them.

Presently Tiberium is a dense "dynamic proton lattice" held together by exotic heavy particles. When Tiberium comes into contact with other matter, the heavy particles randomly collide with the nuclei of the target matter, smashing it to pieces (in the case of smaller nuclei) or incrementally knocking off protons or neutrons (in the case of heavier nuclei). Tiberium captures a fraction of the protons that are ejected during this collision process and incorporates them into its own structure, thus transmuting matter into more Tiberium. Whenever one of the heavy particles — a muon or tauon — collides with an atomic nucleus, fission occurs, which results in the production of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation as well as other forms of electromagnetic radiation (like infra-red). During the transmutation process, nuclei that Tiberium has come into contact with may be changed into nuclei with different (usually fewer) numbers of protons or neutrons.

While attempts at controlling the spread of Tiberium have been made, due to it's virulent nature and the depth of the reliance on the material that all three major human/cetacean polities possess, it has spread into Citadel Space and the Terminus Systems. While Tiberium is highly valued by all governments, the damage it does to ecosystems has made imports and exports of the material very tightly regulated by the Council for fear of vast ecological damage. Earth, the homeworld of Humanity and Cetaceankind, has completely lost a full 30% of it's land surface to Tiberium, where no carbon based life form can survive without protection. Mars is similarly scarred by Tiberium growth.

Due to it's value, Tiberium has become a common commodity on the black market and is known to be wildly popular as a performance enhancer. Those who survive Tiberium exposure and begin to be mutated by it demonstrate greater size, strength, endurance, intelligence, reflexes, increased lifespan, enhanced regenerative powers, and myriad other benefits, though mental enhancements are generally limited as few are willing to expose brain tissue to a substantial degree to Tiberium. Surviving exposure and gaining beneficial traits without carefully administered infusion treatments is difficult and rare and generally leads to obvious scarring and growths of inert Tiberium crystals on the body. Uncontrolled Tiberium mutation can result in the conversion of the body into cancer-like cellular structures and the devolution of all structure into a horrific visceroid, upon which there is no hope of recovery and the only course of action is to kill the visceroid before it can cause any harm to those around it.

Tiberium is known to come in multiple colours, with Green being the most common, and least valuable. Blue is of greater worth, followed by Purple, Yellow, Orange, and Red. The reason why Tiberium's value does not adhere to the standard scale of colour frequency is currently a matter of much debate among Tiberium researchers. Tiberium research is a burgeoning and highly lucrative field and in Citadel Space, the Volus are making sure to acquire the largest share of the substance, and are among it's most enthusiastic supporters, followed by the Turians who greatly value its military and industrial potential and the Salarians who see "infinite possibilities with its potential to aid scientific research". Others can often be more skeptical given the material's obvious dangers. The Hanar are the most reluctant to delve into Tiberium research, believing the Scrin to be demons whose gifts should be rejected in favor of greater appreciation of the enlightenment given by the Enkindlers.

* * *

AN: Whew that took me longer than I wanted it to. I will note that as I had the story two thirds of the way done already on Sufficient Velocity before working on the finishing touches that other chapters are likely to take longer to post after wards.

Now in response to the thoughtful criticism provided by the one Anon, I will admit that I probably had the Council go a bit too soft on Epsilon, but I am trying to make Epsilon seem much less like the cartoonish bad guys that Yuri was in the canon version of Yuri's revenge, and to an extent what they still kinda were in Mental Omega 3.0 and 2.0's story lines.

The Epsilon Dominion isn't Nazi Germany or North Korea, but rather more like the Kruschev thaw era Soviet Union, often belligerent and antagonistic but not really outright evil. There's individual liberties but the political power is definitely stratified into the upper crust of society. Some may call them the Evil Empire, but I'm trying to avoid making them just be giant jerkwads for the sake of it. Bioware did that to the Batarians and ended up giving us a government that to the fandom, really only exists to get crapped on (and hell even in the canon the Batarians seem to only exist to get crapped on.)

As for who's going to be seen and who's not, human canon characters are very likely to be butterflied into nonexistence as my plans stand right now. Alien canon characters are more likely to survive in a form you'd recognize, perhaps with their dates jumped forward a bit. Liara's probably still going to be a hundred or so but Wrex would be even older for example.


	4. In yo face

_"I'm sure you're expecting some super witty quote from me, but honestly all I could think about when we were launching ourcounter-piracy operations was "up yours you four eyed fucks", yeah I'd say I was pretty mad."_

\- Alliance Pilot Jimmy James Walter

"_Conflict is the lifeblood of a nation. Our state and our nation have grown weary and corrupt not because of the sanctions of the two eyes at the Citadel but because we have sat and done so little for so long. A conflict with this Alliance who would dare seek to deny us a Batarian millenium would be a good start._"

\- Jerkal Hur'uk, Batarian General.

* * *

Alliance Space-station; Screaming Eagle, 30th of April, 2468

Wolfgang von Schafhausen wasn't the biggest boy to be sure, he was eight after all. With blond hair and blue eyes any lingering doubt about his heritage not already shattered by his name were dispelled. But he was enthused by everything involving his parents. The call had come for battle, the Union was under attack by one of the largest forces of Pirates, Mercenaries, Slavers, and Terminus Warbands seen in years. In an age before manufacturing became so easy, the Terminus warbands; while certainly powerful and feared, tended to amass only in the dozens. Instead, a lightning offensive of more than one and a half thousand warships of frigate scale and above had taken place, including fifteen dreadnought class vessels and twelve carriers.

He heard something about cloning being used for more soldiers, probably from the bad guys. He just tried to imagine the size of such a force, but scale was something even adults struggled with. However, being the bright boy he was, he made sure to not stay out of the loop entirely, and was glued to any news he could get while he was being taken care of by the robot nannies. His parents may have been in the military, but his family wasn't lacking for resources, he wasn't a "Von" for nothing after all.

He turned on the device and was immediately greeted by the face of a dolphin at one of those news anchor tables, all sorts of infographs buzzing around behind the dolphin as a charming young woman, probably from the pacific front territories given her Asian features, sat directly across from the exo-suit supported cetacean. The symbol of the Alliance, a white eagle imposed over a Red star with a yellow hammer and sickle clutched in it's talons with spotlight like streaks fanning towards it on the blue flag, soon materialized on the screen behind them, followed by the logo of "ASBC War-Room" appearing in flashy typefaces with bullet holes surrounding them.

"_Good day viewers and welcome to the war-room, where we give you the straight facts on our nations' ongoing war against piracy and pirates of all stripes. Today, a massive offensive lead by the Batarian Terminus warlord Skunner has launched a heavy attack on our territory, devastating many worlds in the process. General Secretary Ackerman has promised a hard hitting counter-offensive and has warned that those responsible for this horrific tragedy will pay the ultimate price for the loss of so many lives._" The Dolphin started, it's clicking and squeaking being almost flawlessly synced over by it's translating software.

"_Let's have the word from Ackerman himself, shall we?_" The woman asked as the screen transitioned with the help of a distinctly anime esque girl riding a chibified mechanical bear "pulling" the edge of the screen over to the feed of the White Kremlin at Terra Novum. A mix of European Neo-classical architecture and Soviet bloc slavic designs, the White Kremlin was the heart of Union executive power. And there stood their Prime Minister, a hard-line bald man who had long advocated for getting tough with the Epsilon and *especially* the Batarians and the many Terminus warlords.

"_My countrymen, today we have been once again, viciously attacked by the heartless warmongerers of the Terminus systems. Warlord Skunner has taken many lives from us, but I say no more. Which is why I am instating the Piracy order. Any pirate or any rogue force aiding a pirate will be immediately put to death upon capture if they refused to surrender. I am also increasing our patrols, doubling our military output, and increasing the guard of our colonies._" He said, getting the obvious facts out of the way first, all the political niceties that most politicians would say. But of course, with Ackerman, there was always an ahh...bonus to his speeches and declarations.

"_And if the criminals in Kar'shan don't like it they can kiss my ass. We've tolerated your support of pirates for thirty years. If you ask me your government is a scourge on this galaxy that must be destroyed for the sake of your people and every sapient being in the stars. If we see another large scale operation backed by you, the eagle is going to rip off your heads and shit freedom down your necks. We're going to be putting Skunner's head on a pike and there ain't shit you can do about it. Either you disown him as a pirate and he gets incinerated by Prism beam or double tapped in the head by our troops or you protect him and you have an act of war on your grubby little hands. Your choice you four eyed freaks._" He said, his voice remaining absolutely serious despite the nature of what he was saying, his intense stare never deviating from the camera, and not so much as one glance at speech papers or teleprompters being made. A round of applause and cheering went across the gathered press as he showed why he was elected with such huge margins.

"_Oh and as for Skunner. We're coming for you. There's nowhere you can hide, no rock you can crawl under, no asylum you can seek that is going to protect you from us. We're going to get you. We're going to kill you. You can make bank on it. For what you've done, there is no way in hell you're going to die peacefully in bed. We're going to systematically destroy your life's work and end your reign of terror once and for all. Thank you all for listening. Now, questions?_" He said to the gathered press as they all started raising their hands one after the other.

Wolfgang's viewings were however, quickly interrupted by a call. Flipping out his personal digital assistant, he was greeted by the face of his mother on the other end despite their tremendous distance from one another. He managed a smile and a wave to his mother just as she gave him one.

"_Hello Wolfgang! How are you?_" She asked, her warm face radiant with affection.

"_I'm good Mom! I did my homework like you asked! But where are you going?_" He asked, laying the PDA on the floor so that he could lie down on the couch.

"_I've told you before Wolfgang, deployment orders are to head out. Your father and I are going to help blow up the pirates so that they can't hurt anyone else._"

"_Will you be back soon?_" He asked, tilting his head to the side while his mom dimmed her smile slightly.

"_I don't know Wolfgang, we'll see soon. Just make sure to do good in school and keep out of fights with the Imperial girl. I don't want to receive another notice when I get home. Are we clear? Valiant Lily will be there to watch you._" She said, jokingly pointing an accusatory finger at him and chuckling.

"_I'll do my best mom._" He said, perhaps a bit noncommittally; earning Wolfgang an eyebrow quirk from his mother and a fold of her arms.

"_Wolfgang._" She said expectantly.

"_Alright, I promise!_" He said, throwing his hands up in the air while laughs were passed all around.

"_Love you mom, say hi to dad for me!_" He said with a cheery and impeccable grin on his face as he waved goodbye.

"_I'll make sure of it! Good bye._" She said as she returned the wave and closed out of the conversation soon afterwards.

* * *

ASNV Glory of the People, Carrier, 1st of may, 2468

Dietrich von Schafhausen sat in the cockpit of his strike craft as the carrier Glory of the People emerged via chrono-rift before the planet of Tyranasia, where Skunner had chosen to make his stand in an all or nothing gambit against Task force Strakh sent out to destroy him. In the past; a battle between thousands of frigate scale and larger vessels such as now would have been unthinkably massive. But this wasn't the past anymore. In the past, an armada wouldn't deploy out of blue-white tears in space time that informed the pirates and slavers that they had an apocalyptic battle on their hands.

"_Dietrich reporting ready for launch._" He said as he checked his controls, nodding with satisfaction as each and every one of them reported a green light. His Achilles class super-striker was not an ordinary strike craft. For one thing it was much larger than the usual five to twenty meter strike craft. fifty meters long and powered by an anti-matter pulse rocket for maximum maneuverability; and whose reactors powered a devastating array of spectrum beam emitters on it's wings with a central wave-force cannon; along with tesla and anti-matter missiles as just a bit of extra firepower. As extra insurance, two sets of high intensity short ranged lasers on the top and bottom were the last part of the piece; meant to discourage swarm attacks.

The _Glory of the People_ was given what it needed to operate twelve wings of six of these craft; paired with the usual array of other strike craft all meant to ensure that someone somewhere was going to have a bad day. Seventy two Raptor class super strikers was enough to make a real difference, even in a battle like this where the weather forecast was cloudy with a chance of furball. And well, he wasn't going to be flying the only wing of Raptors today.

"_How's the wife and kid?_" one of his wingmates asked as they were given the leave to take off from the enormous carrier. Dietrich scolded himself mentally; he forgot to send his own message to little Wolfgang after Hannah reminded him. He made a mental note to set up a call with him the instant he was able to.

"_They're doing just fine Yuki, haven't had any complaints from the school about Wolfgang since he got in that fight, and Hannah? Hannah's tougher than the tank she drives._" He said with a chuckle as his full body armored flight suit glistened somewhat in the light it was reflecting from the panels and screens in his strike craft.

Already the first salvos of fire were traded, already some ships were lost on both sides, and already his scanners had filled with countless new contacts; swarms of strike craft and drones that had been vomited out by the pirate fleet.

The two swarms approached each other, and in the space of a single tense second; the stars became filled with violence.

His own wing powered through the screen of Raider interceptors; spectrum rays flaring to life and spraying hateful multicoloured death wherever they could, each of the emitters swiveling in their mounts on the wing and singling out a target. In such a target rich environment; his craft reaped a rich number of kills that would surely lead to yet more marks under his kill tally.

"_Scratch thirty pirate drones and six interceptors._" He chuckled as the turret mounted lasers on his craft swatted down some more drones as he made his way to his real target; periodically firing as the ship's A.I plotted solutions while he maneuvered himself and his flightmates into an attack run on one of the pirate cruisers.

"_Cruiser is in my sight, give the engines a kick and charge up wave force cannons. Show these fuckers that they've messed with the wrong people._" Dietrich said while a chorus of affirmatives came in reply; including the clicking and squeaking of a dolphin and the warbling of a squid.

His Raptor hummed with power as the cruiser's GARDIANs busily tried to ward off a swarm of Space Paladin drones that were making a nuisance of themselves in the ranks of the pirates, with several destroyer class vessels having already found themselves bursting into explosions while the alpha wing lined up for the kill on the heavy cruiser.

Just as it fired off a mass accelerator slug at some distant foe; Wave-Force Tachyonic particles forced to interact with Baryonic matter shot forth from the noses of the sleek Raptor craft like brilliant streaks of white annihilation. The cruiser's kinetic barriers blocked some of the force for the briefest moment then they crumpled, then the armor gave way, then the decks, then the armor on the other side as the cruiser was sheared apart by the fury of Red Flight.

The ship's oxygen supplies provided the fuel for one last explosion while Eezo from the ruptured core bled into the void along with humanoid shapes who had been sucked into the vacuum only to be targeted as debris and zapped with prejudice by the lasers of the Raptor craft, killing them all as the prism rays danced across the surfaces of the cruiser's escorting frigates and destroyers, sending many of them to their dooms in a glorious inferno while Dietrich gunned his craft downwards to get in position to unleash a nuclear missile volley at another distracted capital ship, drones struck by the lasers of the Raptor falling apart while his squadron made their descent.

A number of impacts struck the next target and it too joined it's comrade struck by the wave-force cannons in oblivion, hurried along by a spat of prism rays to ensure that as few of them managed to reach their escape pods as possible.

But even this daring drama above the surface of the world was just part of the story. Deeming the pirates sufficiently distracted; the Fleet Command decided to send in the vanguard via chrono-rift to begin the ground phase while the spacelanes were tied up in a massive furball of a battle.

* * *

Planet Tyranasia, Vuldoros Continent, Kleinbak plains

On the plains, a Batarian manned his anti-aircraft missile battery with pride. The targeting VIs were top notch and his job promised to be an easy one. Just let the Alliance come in with their shock and awe tactics and blow them away before they could do anything about it. With the triple A and GARDIAN laser sets supplementing these SAMs, any flier would have to have a death wish to even approach this area.

Anti-ground defenses and regular patrols bolstered the area's defenses. Even orbital drops would run the risk of triggering the planet's defenses long before they ever hit the ground. Yes there was much to be proud of. Strength, competence, and a well thought out plan. Even a chronosphere teleportation drop would probably still bring the attentions of the anti-ground defenses.

But of course, they failed to take into consideration the fact that first; little drones could be chronosphered in to relay data before they were inevitably destroyed; followed by the chrono-shift of a number of large bombs that required the frantic attentions of the combat engineers to defuse. But then all semblance of order fell apart when the Alliance revealed their most audacious plan; chrono-shifting in vehicles directly above the defenses as their positions were marked.

Low lying guns and missile batteries were crushed by heavy metal, plastics, and ceramics smashing into them from the air as the vehicles immediately began firing away. On top of this particular Batarian came not a Kodiak main battle tank or even a Didko heavy tank, and certainly not a Nodachi Light Tank. But the full seven hundred ton mass of a Doomsday superheavy battle tank, a vehicle that showed its clear lineage from the mighty Apocalypse and Mammoth tank of many centuries past, dropped on his head after being teleported fifty feet above him. His death was mercifully swift as sir Isaac Newton made his body his bitch with a satisfying "splat" sound made that made itself known amongst the noise of the tank making its landing after it appeared over his head in a flash of blue and white.

With the painted on symbol of a roaring mechanical bear, the Doomsday Tank "Steel Bear" spoke with it's twin railguns; selecting tesla rounds that exploded among the batarians and sent forth a dazzling array of lightning as Perun's fury incinerated the Batarians where they stood; not caring one iota for their kinetic barriers and melting their gear and drones to slag as the seven hundred ton behemoth rolled forward; striking at a rapidly taking off gunship with tusk missiles that ripped through it's vulnerable turbines; Prism repeaters sputtering forth brightly coloured rays of doom from where one would expect pintle or hull mounted machine guns. Each impact of the anti-personnel energy beams "refracted" into more beams that struck down more targets, the Tank seemingly unstoppable as missiles were struck aside by the top mounted prism beams and incinerated before they could touch the vehicle while other forms of anti-vehicular fire may as well have been throwing pebbles at a rolling boulder for how little the Bear cared for it.

A Batarian Tank tried to roll forward to meet the Steel Bear, but after its shell bounced off to no effect, followed by four more shells as the Steel bear did not deem the "mere" main battle tank to be even worth its guns, the Bear simply kept on rolling forward and flatten the other vehicle beneath its massive weight, rising up as it rolled forward and then pressing down on the Batarian tank with mass effect fields that worked not to lighten the tank, but give it even more weight as it rolled over and crush the sixty ton main battle tank into a flattened ruin with some bits of red paste leaking from the crumpled metal, loading nuclear warheads into it's next round of shells and firing them at a site of bunkers outed by the drones. Two ear splitting cracks were issued by the sound barrier as protest. Two far louder and brighter explosions dominated the horizon as the bunkers were given a double tap of nuclear fire, ensuring that the bunker would not be offering the bear or its comrades any resistance. Finally, with the LZ secured; the commander decided to speak.

"_This is Hannah von Schafhausen, Steel Bear reporting in. Is the area secured?_" She asked, waiting for a brief moment for a response.

"_Yes comrade commander, the immediate area is secure. What are your orders?_" Came in another voice of a nearby vehicle, her tank's EVA unit showing her a detailed depiction of not only where her tank was, or where the other tanks of her unit were, but also the movement of the army within the vicinity as Chronospheric insertions occured with greater and greater frequency across the entire grid.

"_Move through the fallout zone ASAP to hit their bases and hit them hard! Artillery support will be provided and we have some MCVs on the case. Who dares wins! Ura!_" She said, shouting her unit's motto and smiling at the uniformity of the "_URA!_" shouts as the vehicles began to come together. They needed to keep their force concentrated so that as much force as possible could be brought to bear in as small a space as possible, spreading out would likely mean their slow death.

The armored force thundered forward with deadly intent; sweeping out those pirates and mercenaries who had withstood the nuclear assault with extreme prejudice as they sought to ensure that the MCVs and mobile war factories would be able to do their jobs unmolested. Even with the escort vehicles already dropped in; it was always good to keep the enemy off guard. Perhaps a proper military force would have been able to stop the onrushing juggernaut of steel charging forward, but caught off guard and met with such heavy machinery the mercenaries on the ground faltered and their shots became more panicked as the very primal fear of an onrushing swarm of fast moving and superbly durable armoured fighting vehicles took hold in the animal centers of their brains.

Hannah flipped some switches in her vehicle as the armored force barreled through the immediately radioactive terrain to get at the nearby mercenary base. A number of the Nodachis and Multigunner IFVs that had rushed ahead were struck by Eclipse biotics that worked not to try and show off by crushing them; which would have been a wasteful expenditure of energy, but to hold them in place or bog them down for anti-tank munitions to fire and strike down the light vehicles. With a swear Hannah vowed that those comrades of hers would be avenged as she ordered the transports to come to a halt and let forth the infantry and the machines to help clear out the enemy's specialist infantry as she saw one of the Kodiak tanks be upended by blue mass effect fields she assumed had to come from an Asari commando squad, letting their weapons tear through the more vulnerable bottom of the tank and then throw the vehicle's hull at another Kodiak tank to knock it off course and let fire from mercenary armoured vehicles pincoushin the now exposed Kodiak.

The Tsivil mk 39 and Borillo mk 38 IFVs halted their advance offering supporting fire from their own lighter weapons while expendable drone vehicles such as robot tanks swarmed forward to absorb losses for their comrades and V32 missiles, Katyusha Rockets, and Valkyrie Self Propelled Guns fired from forces comfortably back in the base rained down hell upon the base's positions meant to keep those biotics pinned down long enough for the heavier vehicles to roll forth and add their own voice to the growing drama of battle.

She took a look through one of her tank's cameras and spotted a flash; followed by one of the Kodiak tanks erupting into flame as a mass accelerated round pierced through it's exposed flank, bringing the vehicle to a complete halt while those of the crew who survived quickly filed out into the hellstorm of fire already consuming the area. "_Shit_" she thought to herself as she realized that there had to be a tank destroyer somewhere in the vicinity to one shot a Kodiak like that.

"_Gunner, turn to my mark and load armor piercing rounds, have the missile pods fire frag rounds to flush out his friends too._" She ordered as the behemothic doom tank rolled it's turret over to the probable location of the tank destroyer as it claimed another Kodiak tank, aiming for a weak point in the vehicle between the small space where the tank's turret met it's chassis, a shot that would have required an excellent gunner and V.I to make on that moving Kodiak.

But before the Batarian Tank Destroyer could fire again; it's hull was blasted clean through by a double tap; though the first shell was enough to overwhelm it's barriers and armor; the second shell was insurance that it was dead and that none of the crew could survive and post their experience, unless of course; the vehicle was a drone, she thought a V32 missiles crashed all across the area with thunderous force; punctuated by the crash of Katyusha rockets and artillery shells all meant to cause as much damage as possible before abrubtly halting after thirty seconds to let the vehicles roll in.

"_Tsivils, Borillos, I want those of you with mancannons to launch first, we'll roll up support as fast as we can._" She ordered, beginning a second artillery bombardment; but not with shells or rockets; but with infantry equipped with jump jets and mass effect field manipulators who darkened the sky with their myriad shapes; from heavily armored desolators and Tesla Troopers to elite peacekeepers and Imperial Warriors to armored cybernetically augmented warbears and terror drones. Landing in the rear areas of their foe's encampment, these infantry immediately began to wreak havoc while the armored columns rolled forth to smash the base between the two pincers they had set up.

* * *

Planet Tyranasia, Vuldoros Continent, Kleinbak plains, 3rd district

Jarrok Vor'gul was to put it lightly; terrified. It had all gone so wrong so quickly. The Alliance's forces had swept across the fields like a tidal wave and were relentlessly pressing forward. The Asari bitch who had been tasked with lookout on his position had died trying to keep his unit's discipline. She was so busy maintaining biotic barriers that she failed to notice a burrowing Terror Drone exploding from the ground and tearing her chest open. He had managed to gun down the drone; not until it had torn through three of his friends and sliced off the legs of another; but he managed to shoot it to pieces until the horrible jerky mass of bladed limbs stopped moving.

It was at the very least; fragile. The Prism Gun he had managed to acquire definitely helped with taking it down, but there were still more of the damned Alliance troops coming in to smash what parts of his base were still standing. He repeated mantras of discipline to himself to calm his nerves, reminding himself that these were just two eyed freaks, it didn't matter if he died so long as he made sure that his death counted for something. Falling back to another unit in good order, he made sure to take potshots wherever he could afford to do so; trying to keep the advancing wave of machines and infantry back. He took another shot and one of the human troops fell over, burning and steaming from the left side as the weapon took off the lightly armoured scout trooper's arm. He smiled at his victory, and smiled a bit more when a tank destroyer cored through another one of the human's blasted vehicles.

He had long given up on air support; the sheer density of anti-air here had kept the gunships thoroughly grounded and the bombers were wary of crossing into the range of their anti-air assets, and Alliance VTOLs were already starting to make themselves known. Twinblades raked the battlefield with gatling mass-drivers, or in the case of lucky ones; tesla dischargers; and deadly braces of missiles that they made known to the world as they hunted for enemy forces and deployed infantry or extra vehicles where needed. Siege Vultures raked across the battlefield with their gatlings before setting down to unfurl powerful howitzers to pummel positions in close support of their troops. He tried to get a good shot at one of the siege Vultures, firing his prism rifle repeatedly at one of the Vultures, aiming for its more delicate ammo feeds and pumping his fist in the air when something caught fire on the vulture and the vehicle exploded in a brilliant fireball, but he quickly fell back when he saw the distinct shape of Alliance support gunships he had lost more than a few friends to these craft equipped with strange things such as Cryogenic and SHRINK beams.

Hell he had seen a big imposing Krogan reduced to knee height by a sweep from one of their Scientific "Sigmund" class Copters, where a simple tesla trooper punt to the face was enough to knock him out of commission. But Jarrok had no intention of dying here. Not to the second terror drone he shot down with the particle sprayer shotgun he scraped together the money to buy, not to the battle drones he repeatedly shot from the sky, nor to the robot tank he had to yell at a gun crew to get into their sights to take down. But he could see that the battle was not going the way of the Pirates. This was supposed to be the operation that put egg on Ackerman's face and got him out of office and replaced with someone less...fiery about his hatred of the Hegemony.

He had no idea that he'd be forced to flee from these strong points by a sudden, well, his own language had a different term for it, but to them it was "Blitzkrieg". Hell, he could barely see with all the dust and smoke clouds the enemy was kicking up or firing forth. But he was no coward. He was afraid yes, but he wasn't going to let that fear rule him; even as the enemy came closer and closer with every passing moment. He ducked into a trench, brought out his assault rifle, and immediately began firing with any other soldier who had sought shelter in the trench; shooting down one of the human soldiers with a series of bursts to the head that sent the man (or woman, he couldn't tell, armor had a habit of making everyone looking androgynous), flopping to the ground. Other troopers, probably not peacekeepers given their lighter armor, ducked away and moved out of the way as smoke grenades detonated before them.

He tried to peer through the smoke fired by a new set of grenades, adjusting the functions on his helmets' lenses to get a better picture, hearing something rumbling as others in the ad hoc combat group formed to try and present some resistance chattered with what suppressive fire they could provide. Hearing the ping of something against composite armor, he narrowed his eyes as he finally found a setting capable of piercing through the smoke. Through it he was able to see a borillo that he identified all too late before it vomited out a massive tendril of blue-white ultra-high temperature burning fluids.

The radiant heat from the recently designed vehicle was unbearably hot even as he threw himself out of the trench as fast as he possibly could. He knew better than to look behind himself. Everyone who didn't get out of that trench was dying painfully at that moment. Anyone who managed to avoid the flames was being shot to pieces by the pintle mounted prism rays that had a field day with exposed targets while the hull mounted flamethrowers swiveled back and forth for maximum coverage. A missile was fired at the sides of the Borillo, but the prism rays swiveled around to fire at the missile and zapped it out the sky with a "FSHHHIIING" sound.

The already crackling flames were soon added to by the fresh roar of yet more burning material as the Borillo spun on one track to bring itself to the infantry who had dared fire it, and the mercs who had made their presence known were either mercifully flash incinerated or ran out of cover screaming and flailing as they burned. Nothing that could be done for them now he thought; as Drones deployed by the more tech-savvy troopers in the base flew forth to provide what combat support they could while he sought to flee to yet another strongpoint.

The tearing sound of a pillbox's machine gun tore through the noise of battle; seeking to suppress incoming Alliance soldiers. That would make a good rally point; he thought as Eclipse Asari mercenaries formed sent forth rippling waves of light blue power with arcane gestures, and he thought he could spot a number of psychics from Turian mercenary cabals adding their own fire to the mixture, roasting a number of Alliance soldiers who had managed to brave the pillbox's heavy machine guns.

He himself quickly sought a safe route to the defense line; leaping over the rubble and broken terrain as well hidden tank destroyers finally made their presence known to take down Alliance armor as it advanced, ear splitting sonic booms and ammo cook offs all but deafening him while two soldiers that had tried to flee with him ran afoul of jumpjet using peacekeepers; the thundrous belching roar of their shotguns being followed by the wet thumps of carcasses hitting the ground. He shouted as he hurled a clutch of grenades, rewarded with the quick dispersion of the peacekeeper formation as they quickly brought forth their riot shields, less fortunate soldiers being thrown to the ground by the explosives he had thrown as he tried to move into another prepared position.

He refused to die, not here, not when he was so close to the agreed upon extraction point. He could almost taste his impending safety before what he had thought were rocks opened fire with tesla coils. Mirage assault guns had sneaked up on this group and shrieking arcs of electricity had leaped out to consume the defensive line from the rear; leaping from soldier to soldier as they fried each one to ash in turn. Wild screaming was heard as flesh and bone crumbled to dust and armor charred into a deep; dark black. One of the transports, as its disguise as a rock was discovered by an attentive mercenary; was destroyed in short order by a hidden tank destroyer that cored the relatively lightly armoured vehicle with a pair of shots, but the victory was short lived as yet more of the Alliance came forward.

More screaming ensued as Mirage transports disgorged a wave of Kabuto clad warriors who unfurled seemingly archaic sword like weapons to advance upon the shocked and confused enemy while these transports supported their soldiers with a wave of launched frag grenades and mass-accelerator fire. Imperial Warriors, he remembered the briefing on them. Fanatical soldiers from one of the subfactions inside of the Alliance and considered some of the most vicious shock troopers the Alliance had to offer for the numbers they came in. Perhaps some were more elite, but the Imperial warriors could be deployed as an alternative to standard infantry and they had the training to put themselves into a minor psychically induced frenzy.

The surviving Asari were targeted first as the Imperial Warriors' swords lit with brilliant white energy; the power of the wave-force and intense vibrations and heating that gave their swords their famed cutting power so long as the energy fields were kept active. The Asari, and himself, opened fire, but it was not enough; the Imperial warriors activated their jump jets and were upon the Mercenaries before they managed to cut down anymore than two of their number.

Asari warriors were fierce no doubt and she managed to gut one of the warriors as he approached with a quick burst from a stolen Tesla pistol as she had her omnitool extend a monomolecular omniblade for close combat but in close combat; an Omniblade was not a suitable weapon against a wave-force Katana without risking getting within their reach, not against more heavily armored enemies that had the advantage of shock and surprise who were facing an already demoralized unit. The female sounding human shouted something as she brought down her blade and cut the Asari from stem to sternum and sprayed her blood all over the place as Vor'gul began to panic, firing away while some of the Imperial Warriors hung back to let fly with kinetic burst rifles; white rounds striking into his friends as they streamed around the increasingly broken pirate positions, looking for enemies to cut down if they did not surrender. Limbs began flying and body parts were hacked off freely, leaving those who had survived to shriek with pain and those who had not to slump over to the ground with an odd sort of dignity he had seen many a soldier pass from this life with.

He kept on firing, taking down some of their drones he had seen them deploy, throwing some grenades to try and take a few of them with him, sending some of the Alliance infantry to the ground with blood leaking from them. He was a good soldier to be sure, standing against these odds even as some of the soldiers went into; and quickly silenced the pillbox he was counting on to support him with suppressive fire after some very much not silent butchery. But the slight misdirection of a psychic who had noticed him and subtly influenced him to support the rest of her squad caused him to miss an important bit of information, one of her comrades coming towards him with the intent to kill.

He had enough time to turn around to see the white sheathed blade before a stabbing motion sent the blade straight through his chest before an uppercutting motion cut his head and neck in half. With his brain incinerated by the heat of the sword that had ran him through, he saw nothing else as his killer moved on to other targets.

* * *

Planet Tyranasia, Vuldoros Continent, Kleinbak plains, 4th district

A smattering of Asari mercenaries tried and failed to stop the steel bear. Already battered and bruised by Katyusha bombardment; they fell with ease to the tusk missile and prism ray barrage as the armored leviathan rolled forth and slammed it's point home with another pair of shells; this time firing armor piercing thermobaric bunker busters meant to blast the enemy right out of one of the last remaining bunkers. With a terrible noise followed by a terrible silence; the once furiously loud battlefield had now become quiet as those who were left rapidly began to surrender. Even the upload trained cloned soldiers started giving up this particular battle if they were unable to retreat or lacked the means to keep on fighting.

As Hannah popped the hatch of her vehicle and stuck her head out of the Doomsday Tank's cupula, her earbud was filled with a sound that she was all too familiar with. "Establishing battlefield control, standby." Tapping a button on her PDA, the image of the commander soon made himself apparent, and a sharp salute was soon passed from the Brigadier to the General.

"_General Williams._" She said, standing straight up and offering the general a curt, professional smile.

"_At ease Brigadier._" He said in response, earning a nod from her and the return of her hand to the cupola.

"_Your base has been secured sir, we can start deploying more forces as soon as the situation in space starts clearing up._" She said with a grin on her face as the vehicles hummed with readied engines.

"_Good, you'll be heavily reinforced and be reunited with the rest of your division and corps. We're making landfall to put a dampener on the enemy's production capacity. Hope you're ready._" He asked as the tank itself took over the duties of projecting his image to the crew.

"_Will do sir._" She responded.

Some had died, about one hundred twenty men, women, and animals wouldn't be coming back; and fifteen vehicles were lying in ruins. Not to mention the heavy losses suffered to the synthetics who had valiantly soaked up fire for their organic comrades. New soldiers and vehicles would fill in that void soon, but at the very least; the enemy suffered tremendously for the damage they had inflicted on her unit; more than two thousand killed and a thousand captured with three thousand more routed. She wouldn't be getting to rest for much longer, her tank would be needed elsewhere soon enough.

* * *

7th of May, 2468_  
_

The battle for the world had turned decisively in favor of the task force sent forth and commanded by Hackett and Williams, the sorties Dietrich and his wing were making were becoming increasingly less intense as the Pirate fleet shrank more and more to disproportionately small loses by the Alliance. Increasingly his craft had been sent to mop up the planet side conflict as the Mercenaries had their backs pressed to the wall. Over the days, his craft had been marked with more and more ground attack, strike craft, and large ship kills. Hell his wing had even taken out a pair of dreadnoughts; for which he was damn proud.

Isolated outposts were being compelled to surrender; frequently by blasting them with incredibly loud Dubstep music nonstop until the disruption to sleeping patterns and the constant assault of the same song over and over and over would hopefully convince them to come out and throw down their arms. If such methods failed to produce results; there were always the incendiaries or bunker busters. His aircraft flew over the heads of one the fortresses being so blasted with music his scanners briefly rated at 210 decibels being projected by drone "morale damager" tanks while the troops camped in support of the drones stood well back behind noise canceling barriers. Poor bastards. It wasn't even a good song.

Moving in the triple digit mach speeds; his craft was enveloped in a sheathe of fire as the burning air wrapped around his aircraft's barriers, preventing it from suffering harm as it shot back into space to quickly reach another nearby target. Sure the ships above could have done something about the target he was detecting, but Alliance military thinking always posited that strike craft could deliver ground support more accurately than orbital fire from space. Plus, you could recall a strike craft; you couldn't exactly recall a beam, bolt, missile, or slug fired from the heavens.

In a flash his EVA uplink informed him of a new set of targets. A clash between two entire tank divisions had ended decisively in the favor of the Eagle, but a second mercenary tank division formed out of eight oversized brigade formations was rolling forward to overwhelm the battered tanks before they had the time to seek repairs. From the looks of things, the division wasn't doing so well, already taking a heavy beating from the mercenaries, and as if that wasn't enough motive to get the job done, he got a report that his wife was among the tankers engaged and no dedicated air superiority aircraft were available to cut through the interceptors posted to defend the second tank division to allow gunships and CAS craft a route in. With a punching in of coordinates, Dietrich and his aircraft flight screamed into the atmosphere, banking through it and computer systems detecting the incoming wing of nearly a hundred mercenary aircraft.

The results of atmospheric interceptors being faced with six ace pilots in super-strikers was entirely predictable. Spectrum rays cut forth and methodically chopped down every raider aircraft before their pilots had enough time to register they were under attack. Jetting on past and letting the laser turrets finish off those stragglers who had not been cut down by the initial barrage of prism beams. "This is Echo division requesting immediate air support." Cut in a voice over the Radio.

"_Hold position echo division, we've got targets locked._" Dietrich responded as him and his five flightmates roared overhead. In an instant his craft's computer designated the targets for his munitions to deal with. In another instant pods opened up and unfurled to release a flurry of missiles from each of the six Raptor craft even as they were acquired by air defense systems. The hulks of broken pirate tanks were strewn about before them, and before the first raider could open fire, the missiles were released; each bursting into submunitions to individually seek out their own targets.

What had once been hundreds of armored vehicles making a charge against the battle damaged echo company was now a pile of damaged and confused derelict hulks with those still standing being targeted with extreme prejudice by the super striker's lower laser turrets or swatted aside by their enormously powerful sonic booms. With the enemy left as a bunch of confused and shell shocked stragglers to be picked off by the vehicles of Echo division, Dietrich thought he'd make a snappy comment regarding the situation.

"_Like a bunch of Roman Candles aren't they?_" He said with satisfaction evident in his voice, looking at the display of the carnage for only a brief moment as his flight finally banked upwards and shot back into space for maintenance on the _Glory of The People.  
_  
Some time later, his vehicle docked with the gargantuan Alliance vessel in special moors meant just for it. He was tired. Hours of constant combat missions had taken it's toll on him and he was looking forward to crashing in the lounge as soon as he was able to. Firstly, he'd have to call his son and see how he was doing. That was something he had to get out of the way the very instant he could get permission to do so. The pangs of guilt eating away at him for forgetting to do so earlier were by this point; virtually unbearable.

Walking to the outbound contact terminals in the ship as quickly as he could, he brought up a screen as soon as he was at the terminal and waited a few tense moments before being greeted with the beaming face of his son, who waved almost the moment he made eye contact with him, Valiant Lily remaining behind him, her arms folded behind her back as Wolfgang crowded near the Camera.

"_Dad!_" He said, voice bubbly with glee as he made his ecstatic greeting that couldn't help but make Dietrich feel good about himself.

"_Wolfgang! How are you, you little scamp?_" He asked, wanting to get his worries put to rest as soon as possible.

"_I did all my homework and I made a new friend!_" He said, smiling at him as wide as he could.

New friend? That was definitely worth looking into. Much more so than the homework anyway, that was something he expected out of the boy.

"_New friend? Who is it?_" He asked, folding his arms as he sat in his chair while Wolfgang hummed as he recalled him.

"_There's this Turian who moved in when her parents left the hierar...hier...that place Turians come from!_" Wolfgang said, putting his tongue between his teeth as he tried to fumble with the pronunciation of the unfamiliar word to Dietrich's quick sniggers.

"_And what did you do?_" he asked, raising an eyebrow once he calmed down enough from the little laughter induced high to ask his question.

"_I went up to her, so I was the first one to say hi! She was pretty shy but really nice after I said hi. Her name's Verona! I dunno why she has that paint on her face though._" He said, his facial expressions veering from grinning joy to curious small mouthed pondering while looking off into the distance.

"_Is she your girlfriend now?_" He said, knowing just what kind of question to illicit a look of horror on his face.

"_Ew no! She doesn't even have any hair! Eww. You said I was too young anyway!_" He said in protest, protest that Dietrich was able to roughly guess was most likely wholly genuine.

"_I was just messing with you Wolfgang, now I should go soon, but we'll talk more later. And don't try ignoring the terminal when we contact you._" He said, wagging a finger at his son who rolled his eyes before giving an affirmative answer.

"_Bye son._" He said.

"_Bye dad!_" Wolfgang said.

* * *

Citadel Council Chambers, two weeks later

There was a storm on the Citadel. Not a storm of thunder and lightning or gunfire and missiles, but a storm of outrage and furor, as the Batarian ambassador angrily made his case to the Councillors.

"_You must do something!_" He shouted, trembling with anger as the six councillors sat looking about as bored as they could. "Here he goes again" Din Korlack thought as he could barely maintain his focus on yet another long and angry rant from the Hegemony about all the same subjects they usually ranted about. "This is unfair!" they said one day, "you do not respect our ways" they'd say another, "those worlds naturally belonged to us" they'd say a third day. It was so very tiresome.

"_Why should we? They were pirates, terrorists, criminals; they decided to act outside the law and they were punished for it. You're not trying to insinuate that they had ties to your government are you?_" Councillor Olivia said, the Turian clearly unimpressed with the case of the ambassador before her. She sounded tremendously and thoroughly tired of having to go through this song and dance again and again.

"_Even pirates must be afforded the benefit of the law."_ He said, trying to dodge around the Councillor's question as best he could.

"_Piracy is a revolt against the very concept of law itself ambassador, I would advise you to find better arguments and do so quickly before I dismiss this case out of hand._" Tevos said, the Asari perhaps being the most tired of this particular routine out of them all, as she had lived and relived through it throughout her centuries of service. While the people striking out against the pirates had changed, the script had remained remarkably consistent even in this changing galaxy.

"_What do you plan to do about the planets they are now occupying? This unhinged expansion cannot be allowed without censure. You must form a committee and speak to them about this and curtail their attempts to expand their empire._" The ambassador said, raising a finger as he spoke to the nodding of his aides besides him.

"_From what I know they haven't actually annexed the planets, they're only performing peacekeeping duties. Besides that, these are stateless actors, there is no loss of territory to be recompensed for._" The Salarian councillor said, Yshra giving the Batarian a cold, disconcerting stare as she waited for him to make his next move.

"_You can't be certain of that. You must send someone to ensure that all the legalities of colonization are being followed!_" The Ambassador said, prompting Jomok to let out a sigh before givving the Elcor approximation of a nod.

"_Exasperatedly: We suppose that there is some logic into forming a committee and sending delegates to the Alliance. Exasperatedly: We will ensure that as a polity that wishes closer ties to the Citadel that they will respect international law. Exasperatedly: Which I am quite certain they will._" The Elcor said, slowly shifting from left to right as he tapped his knuckles against the floor of his platform to signify his annoyance.

"_Thank you honored councilors, the hegemony will remember your commitment to international justice._" The Ambassador said with a gracious nod.

"_This one would wish to inquire why you feel so strongly about the well being of these particular outlaws, if such would not cause offense of course._" The Hanar Councillor said, all four of the Batarians' eyes shooting to glare at the Hanar immediately.

"_No comment._" The Ambassador said before departing from the council chambers immediately and with significant haste. Upon him and his aides having left earshot, one could feel the almost immediate relief felt by all six of the councillors.

"_Still certain about the long and slow road?_" Olivia asked, turning her eyes towards Tevos who gave a nod of affirmation.

"_They'll crack eventually. I might need a million headache pills but sooner or later we'll see things through._" Tevos said, folding her arms behind her back.

"_In Agreement: We should exercise caution in these rapidly changing times. Providing for an image of normalcy and stability will ensure that the Citadel continues to be seen as a trustworthy and stable system for international law. Pointing out the benefits: This way, we can assure the Terminus systems that we are not the enemy, and thus accelerate the process of bringing them into the fold. With curious musing: I wonder if in time, we can also crack the Dominion this way."_ He said, turning to his colleagues and maintaining the usual deep, flat Elcor voice.

"_I don't think we can simply wait for the Dominion to collapse from political pressures. We'd need to encourage it, find a way to ensure no power vacuums ensue once Yuri is gone and make sure their little pact of goons stay in line once we've tamed the Earth government. I however, don't advocate playing too nicely with them. Not after the genophage cure they pulled or after the...conversion of the Quarians into the cultists they've become now._" Yhra said, her voice stern and clear as she folded her arms.

"_It seemed like a good idea to deal with the clanless at the time. I didn't think they'd be able to so...thoroughly absorb their culture into their own and make a puppet out of their people._" Korlack said, almost apologetically despite the decades that separated that decision from now.

"_This one would like to inspire some hope by reminding this one's esteemed colleagues that they have adhered to the bargain of keeping psychic academies open, building trust with their synthetics, and maintaining the Minovskan Temporal Treaty._" The Hanar councillor said, their tone more uplifted and pleasant than those of its colleagues; though Lighter than Some was generally a pleasant person to deal with.

"_In Agreement: It is hardly all bad news. Indeed, I would say that there is more good news than bad, it is just that we tend to hear the bad news more. Curiously: Any progress on bringing the Alliance to fully joining the citadel?_" Jomok said, turning his eyes towards Yhra.

"_They're still a bit stubborn on that but we have managed to acquire some research agreements. Something of an exchange program really; they wanted to know more about biotics and eezo drives, we will be learning more about iron curtain technology and other forms of shielding. I'll forward you the details of the agreement if you're interested. Though you could just as well ask your own governments."_ Yhra said with a nod.

"_Biotics eh?_" Korlack said, putting his hands on his wide hips.

"_They're always trying to expand the horizons of science Korlack. We're light years ahead of them there, and they're probably hoping for an edge there against their enemies._" Olivia said, explaining herself in a matter of fact manner.

"_Grissholm was the name of their primary academy for biotics yes?_" Korlack said, placing his thumbs before his respirator as he thought.

"_Yes, that would be the one. Thought it also trains psychics._" Tevos said.

"_One of us should have a visit some day, might generate some good press._" Korlack said, nodding at his own idea as he twiddled his thumbs.

"_I'll remember to put that on my to-do list._" Tevos said, taking out a thermos of coffee she had been saving for the end of this meeting, unscrewing the cap and filling it with sweet warm, caffineated liquid that she let crawl down her throat with a relieved sigh. Coffee always hit the spot, Coffee was the universe's gift to make everything feel better. Even the entrance of a Forgottten ambassador.

"_Ah, Tratos. Come in please._" Octavia said as the councillors prepared for another round of negotiations.

* * *

**Cerberus Consumer Products acquires Elmo's Mission company, plans expansion of business.**

"Cerberus Consumer Products, owned by corporate titan Jack Harper, has made the surprising purchase of Elmo's Mission, a cooperatively owned company noted for it's high quality hispanic meals; particularly it's Tacos; expanding his corporate empire that includes private military companies, news networks, information brokerage, manufacturing, and financial consulation. Whether this acquisition was made at the behest of the so called Phantom Syndicate that many accuse CCP of being part of is unknown and CCP has declined to comment."

**Elcor Councillor Jomok retires, ambassador Caelyn succeeds him.**

"After years of faithful service Jomok has decided that now is the time to retire and pursue his long held dreams of artistic pursuits; citing that he's shouldered the burden of galactic politics long enough to last several life times and wishes to try something else with his life. Caelyn, with the full consent and approval of the other councillors, will be taking his office and hopes to continue efforts to maintain galactic stability."

**Batarian Hegemony spokesman stirs controversy by giving supportive statement regarding Warlord Skunner.  
**

"Outrage has erupted as Hegemony government spokesman Jiulus Mamale states that Warlord Skunner, responsible for attacks on six fringe worlds of Alliance space and recently declared the loser of the battle of Tyranisia, was justified by what he claims is a climate of fear perpetuated by Prime Minister Ackerman's vehement anti-pirate and "batarophobic" rhetoric, claiming that while the loss of life and likely enslavement of Alliance citizens is a tragedy; that it is Ackerman's fault and that the Citadel must work to oust what he calls a "war mongering fountain of hate." before he starts a war."

**Continuing search for NEXUS forces turn up fruitless**

"Ever since the revelation that humanity had undergone the so called "Robot Storm" at the hands of the rogue A.I NEXUS and its synthetic hordes, Citadel space continues to search for where the A.I may have based itself to better prepare a defense against any potential incursions. Opponents cite that given NEXUS' lack of activity in the past three hundred years, it is likely that like the Geth, it has decided to isolate itself from the wider galaxy and is unlikely to suddenly change this course of action. Defenders of the search claim that being unprepared for a potential conflict is tantamount to national suicide."

**Forgotten Confederacy condemns Crystal's Fury terrorist actions**

"The Forgotten Confederacy's leadership have once again called out the Crystal's Fury terrorist group for their recent attack on an Epsilon world, claiming that this act of terror goes against all that the forgotten have worked for in the name of advancing the cause of unity between Tiberium mutated and unaffected Sapients. The Forgotten Confederacy says that these acts by an angry minority in no way represent the cause of all Mutates and that they are offering full support in investigations against the organization, and continue to remind the galaxy at large that the Fury is a tiny minority in the mutant population."

**Alliance Democratic-Communist party chairman claims Hegemony to be an "Empire of Evil."**

"Chairman Kurtuku Chappeleen of the ruling Democratic-Communist party, well known for being the longest serving Cetacean chairman of the Alliance, has made a speech many claim is inflammatory by declaring that the Batarian hegemony is an "Empire of Evil" due to continuing the "immoral practice of slavery", "openly backing slavers and pirates", "running a heartless regime that silences its people", "managing an economic system that continually oppresses the working class", "feeding its children a neverending stream of lies and propaganda", and "abhorrent levels of wealth inequality". The Hegemony has responded by calling the Alliance a nation where prosperity is dragged down to support the lazy and that it is a spreader of a dangerous ideology that threatens the rights of the winners in life."

* * *

Codex Entries: 

**Conflicts; Robot Storm;**

The "Robot Storm" is the name given to the second phase of the Second Tiberium (also known as the Second Interplanetary) war fought from the last month of 2036 to the war's end in 2038, where the A.I known as NEXUS rebelled against it's creators; the Alliance; and forced an "unholy alliance" of Epsilon, assorted corporations and smaller states, the Forgotten, and the Alliance to stand against attempted synthetic take over. NEXUS was programmed to ensure the safety, happiness, and well being of all sapient beings, by force if necessary; as well as to coordinate the increasingly larger robotic armies of the Alliance. However, NEXUS began to alter it's own programming to further suit it's own beliefs.

Midway through the war, NEXUS declared that none of the human factions had what it took to be trusted with the safety of organic life and seceded from the Alliance; launching a devastating offensive with a massive synthetic army and legions of subordinate . The war was a brutal and hard-fought affair, with casualties in the nine or even ten digits over the course of two years of conflict. Once embattled factions now found themselves as uneasy partners against the greater machine menace, with battles all over the solar system in hopes of stopping the synthetic advance from forcing it's vision on humanity and cephalopod, parrot, and cetaceankind.

Over the course of the war, the second piece of the Tacitus on EARTH was recovered as part of NEXUS' efforts to restore the Earth's ecosystem and avert the spread of Tiberium on the terraformed planets, which inadvertently also lead to the stabilization of the ecosystems of the Sol System as a whole and in a sense; helped to avert complete extinction of carbon based life in the Sol system. A notable plus for an otherwise devastating phase of an already devastating war. Of particular brutality were the contests between NEXUS' mechanical legions and the vat grown hordes of Epsilon, where battlefields would frequently be left littered with millions of corpses by the end.

But the Alliance managed to secure many machines from NEXUS' rebellion, and the Forgotten and Epsilon both managed to hold, and then push back against the mechanical hordes. After two years of conflict; NEXUS revealed that it had assembled ships and had made once thought to be purely theoretical methods of faster than light travel into reality so that it could embark on a grand exodus. If the sapients of the solar system would reject it's guidance; it would leave them for the time being, promising to return to make things right once it had gathered sufficient strength to do so. A promise that has become the nightmare of many across the galaxy.

One of the most well known cultural effects of the war was the creation of the "dubstep" genre of music by soldiers who intended to mock the sounds produced by NEXUS' synthetic armies by compiling them into music. Depending on who is asked, this is either the cruellest legacy of the war or one of it's most silvered of linings.

**Military Doctrine; Alliance; **

The Alliance's military doctrine is the product of a number of factors. First that in its centuries of existence, the Alliance of Soviet Democratic Socialist Nations has always been in a remarkably inferior position in terms of population. Despite the Alliance's best efforts, such as numerous programs to increase child birth, robotic caretakers to reduce the strain of large families, and even communally raised in-vitro born children with genes supplied by donors; the Alliance's population of some four hundred billion, roughly that many non-humans from all sources, and roughly three times that many Synthetic citizens is dwarfed by Epsilon's population, with somewhere in the neighborhood of ten times that of the Alliance's. While the Alliance's ties with citadel space have helped put the demographics towards its favor, the keen knowledge of its enemy's greater strategic depth and numbers lead to the Alliance working over time to make the forces it did have "count for ten", as the expression goes. The Alliance's other enemies, such as the Batarian Hegemony; also share Epsilon's superiority in strategic depth, and it is expected that in any reignition of hostilities against NEXUS or the Scrin that the Alliance's forces would also be outnumbered.

Secondly, the Alliance is born out of the doctrine of the old Allied Nations and Soviet Union; which focused on speed and overwhelming firepower respectively, inevitably resulting in a military skilled at making sure the blows that it makes will be blindingly quick and devastating on impact. Thirdly is a strong desire to maintain the moral high ground and serve as an army of democracy in both spirit and fact, leading to intensive development of "clean" methods of countering more underhanded forms of warfare, as well as a highly democratic military structure that values initiative and combined arms cooperation as well as taking every possible measure to try and minimize casualties.

This has lead to a focus on the ability to rapidly deploy the Alliance's forces to meet weakness with their own strengths and fluidly strike behind enemy lines or maneuver to break enemy offensives. Force multipliers of any kind are used to squeeze every bit of utility out of Alliance military forces, and the entire population receives basic training as part of their childhood education, with some form of civil service for at least two years being mandatory. The entire military is overtrained to facilitate the rapid series of promotions needed to manage an expanded military, and officer training is incentivized for the entire population to expand the talent pool for its military.

This, combined with democratic traditions in the military; with officers being elected to assorted ranks of military councils; as an extension of the Alliance's almost obsessively democratic culture meant to minimize the reliance on career officials who might themselves take the path of Yuri; has lead to many saying that the Alliance is something akin to a combination of the Asari Republics and the Turian Hierarchy. When the tempo of battle allows for such, "chinese parliaments" are hosted for military officials to discuss plans and raise concerns to hash out the course of action, though this practice is only done when time constraints are generous to allow it to be practiced efficiently. This "strategy by assembly" leads to a style of warfare that is somewhat casualty averse and combined with the highly mobile form of warfare practiced by the Alliance, Alliance forces will typically prefer to strategically cede ground instead of bleed in static defensive engagements save for the most important of positions or installations.

This, in combination with the ubiquitous EVA V.I units that help provide command and control, battlefield networking, intelligence analysis, and logistical planning has also resulted in a significant degree of fraternization within the Alliance military. The circle of people an Alliance soldier engages in conversation with is significantly wider than in other militaries and will extend both vertically into the command chain and horizontally into other units.

Alliance doctrine calls for objective based commands. Units are given a series of objectives to complete as determined in military councils as well as by their Commanders and EVAs, and are allowed significant leeway in carrying out their objectives. Commanders are kept informed by the data given by their EVA units and may assign new objectives, or modify or remove them as the battlefield situation changes.

This all serves to facilitate a style of warfare predicated on hitting hard and fast with a combined arms force that works at controlling the terms of engagement, keeping the enemy disoriented through either conventional means or the deployment of unusual but highly advanced weapons, and overwhelming the enemy with concentrated spearhead assaults with a preference for engaging at closer ranges. Combined with unusual systems such as the Iron Curtain or the Chronosphere, and with the support of extremely versatile weapon systems, Alliance military formations are among the best in the galaxy man for man.

**Treaties: Minovskan Temporal Treaty **

Signed by the Forgotten Confederacy, the Epsilon Dominion, the Alliance, and all members of Citadel Space and numerous unaffiliated powers; the Minovskan Temporal Treaty strongly restricts research and exploration of time travel. While other uses of chronotechnology are permitted by the treaty, including time dilation; the risk posed by allowing people to traverse history was deemed too great, and the treaty was signed with little hassle one year after human contact in 2438. The treaty not only mandates the monitoring of all known "time machines" and attempts to create more, but also has numerous provisions for multinational cooperation in ensuring that; in the very unlikely case of non-signatories getting their hands on such devices that they will be quickly put a stop to.

The treaty does allow for "time belt" devices that do "limited time travel" and serve primarily as a means of anti-assassination by "restoring" the body to its condition up to five minutes beforehand, however this technology is ultimately very rare and very expensive and is ultimately limited to a handful of individuals. As these devices cannot be utilized to try and reverse engineer a true time machine, and as they do not actually temporally displace the target (though they do spatially displace them to where they were before), they are deemed safe enough to be produced under supervision and regulation with the stipulation that the technology be made available to all signatories. The councillors are believed to wear such devices in case of attempted assassination.

* * *

AN: Good grief that took way longer than I wanted it to. You have no idea how many times I had to rewrite the ending of this chapter from scrap when I decided I wasn't satisfied with the direction I was going. Before I had a massive overly long gratuitous battle scene describing Hannah's engagement with the enemy tank divisions in full detail, and then I decided to try and have her talk to a Turian military observer before I decided that having Dietrich talk with Wolfgang some more would be more natural for the story.

And if you haven't guessed it yet, I am indeed splitting the character of Shepard into two. Wolfgang will be Maleshep, Catalina will be femshep. Though this should have been obvious if you knew what their last names translated into.

Also, Syndicate existing is like the worst kept secret in the business world. It just doesn't exist on publicly seen papers for many of the same reasons that Israel doesn't admit to owning a nuclear arsenal despite everyone knowing it has more than a hundred.


	5. In Deep

(AN: Allow me to say that I apologize profusely for falling subject to massive schedule slip, but I hit a huge roadblock in terms of ideas for the story, however I've decided to come back to it.)

"_Screw 'Em All!_"

Tagline of Alliance Democratic Communist (Marxist-DeLeonist) Party during the 2480 elections, continued slogan of Prime Minister Howard T. Ackerman

"_I don't believe that we can say that we have international justice when we've allowed the slavery, piracy, and mass murder of the Hegemony go unchecked for more than a thousand years. Sanctions hurt yeah, and usually people give into them, but when they've not given the results that freedom and equality demand; then I think it's time to roll up our sleeves and drag them into the modern age._"

\- Excerpt from Howard T. Ackerman's "Meaning of Justice" speech.

* * *

The Citadel, Council Chambers, 3rd of March, 2483.

Lisa Van Doyle straightened her jacket as she gave a venemous glare to the Batarian who was busily rambling on about his case against the Union. Almost certainly another pack of lies about why the latest attack had not only nothing to do with the Alliance, but was also provoked by the Alliance. Well, wait until he heard what she had to say, she thought with a little smirk as the Batarian went on.

"_The Alliance's continued unchecked expansion has continuously driven others to a life of crime out of desperation as they are displaced by the hammer and sickle wielding juggernaut. I ask that this council see reason and see these attacks for what they are, not unprovoked attacks of terror, but responses to the advancing oppression of the Midgard government!_" The Batarian said.

"_After all, were these attacks not conducted by raiders who had only recently been made aware that they were in the continually advancing sphere of Alliance influence?_" He said, stooping forward to make it look like he was a pleading beggar, though for all his theatrics the council gave rather little obvious reaction. Councillor Sparatus even seemed somewhat bored, checking his time piece and letting out an exasperated sigh.

"_So I beg of this council to not only not agree to these needless demands for increased anti-piracy operations but place sanctions on the responsible party and work to check and curtail their expansion and encourage a regime change before Ackerman plunges us into another large scale war._" The Batarian concluded, straightening himself and acknowledging the council. Sparatus at the least, seemed positively enthused that he no longer had to listen to the Batarian.

"_Ambassador? The Council now requests your own statement on this._" Din Korlack said, the Volus sucking a breath of highly pressurized air. The Volus shuffled slightly on his podium and soon found himself wishing that the council chambers had some damn seats installed.

"_Thank you Councillor. The Alliance of course, denies these vicious allegations made by the delegate of the Hegemony. But we will also provide evidence proving that not only is the delegate selling you bold faced lies, but that his government has made numerous acts of war upon us that the Alliance is no longer willing to tolerate._" She said, easily going from common name to common name for her home nation.

"_The recent full scale blitz on our worlds near the Skyllian traverse represented an enormous concentrated military endeavor. One that pirates are not keen on engaging in often, not on the level of defenses we had given our systems, or after our highly successful campaign to eradicate Warlord Skunner and his entire support network._" She said as she had an assistant use the holographic screen inside the room to project the image of the systems in question; showing an enormous concentration of pirate ships assaulting heavily defended worlds in rapid succession.

"_All of this would be reason enough to suspect Hegemony involvement, but the first piece of my evidence to eliminate all doubt is to be found here._" She said, having the projector display a scene where Alliance peacekeeper marines had chronoported into the disabled hulk of the lead "pirate" dreadnought and were rapidly gunning down troops with a vicious array of Tesla and Spectrum fire while peacekeepers advanced; shields forward, to help with the sweep, battle psychics and imperial warriors breaking up any resistance that could not be handled by the soldiers themselves.

Then came the sudden impact of a powerful missile into an array of such peacekeepers, blasting apart their shields and mangling bodies while sending radioactive polonium dust spiraling outwards to induce rapid death. Other soldiers were immediately forced to take cover as yet another such missile streaked by at which point the footage was halted, with one of the missiles clearly in view.

"_This mark of missile is only issued to Batarian Hegemony Commandos and were developed specifically to counter Alliance infantry armor as the AUBSCIN files I have presented to you confirm, furthermore the directive for this is issued from Hegemony High Command itself. The only way they could possibly be in the hands of pirates is either incredible incompetence on the part of the Hegemony or that the Hegemony is placing military troops to help pirates._" She said as the video continued to play out.

As one of the missile firers was subdued by a Cryo-trooper quickly spraying him in freezing substances, a secondary video was shown, dating to sometime after the battle where the very same soldier was unhelmeted. "_Genetic profiling and facial comparisons along with psychic probing confirmed this individual to be Major General Bar'khat Vuntas, whose official deployment files mark him as stationed on the other end of the Hegemony. But that's far from the most damning piece of evidence we found._" She said as the video reached the point where the commander of the ship was taken into custody and interrogated.

The Batarian Ambassador quickly shouted to protest "O_bjection! This evidence cannot possibly be considered reliable!_", but Sparatus rapidly cut him off.

"_Overruled, I want to hear this to the end._" He said calmly, earning him a look of puzzlement from Tevos but nodding approval from Caelyn and the Salarian councillor. The Volus and Hanar councillors on the other hand, were of course far harder to read.

During the course of the interrogation by the Alliance's Lensman Psychics, the interrogated Batarian finally let out his confession after more than an hour of resistance before finally deciding to cave in. "_I was under the payroll of the Batarian Hegemony to teach your government a lesson. Make you give up the attempt at settling in the verge, make you look bad._ " He said before further files were released validating the claims.

"_We of course, trusted but verified and found a treasure trove of data that irrefutably places the Hegemony as the instigator of this attack. Make no mistake honored Councillors, the delegate of the Hegemony will try to lie to you and deceive you, but we have the proof of his crimes right there. We only hope that you make the right decision._" She said, prompting the councillors to open up screens for privacy as they discussed what to do among themselves.

"_Ackerman clearly stated he would go to war if he found evidence of another Batarian backed attack on the Union, you can't allow this to get out of control and waste all that we've spent trying to control the hegemony._" Tevos said, getting a flash of approval from the Hanar councillor who chimed in with her own opinion.

"_This one concurs, long has this council sought to peacefully dismantle the Hegemony's institution of slavery. Allowing this to proceed would likely make a martyr out of their beliefs._" The hanar said, remaining perfectly monotone throughout her statement, the gelatinous folds of the being undulating almost hypnotically.

"_We've waited for more than a thousand years and we've barely made any noteworthy progress. I'm tired of trying to strangle the Hegemony's slave trade or its brazen backing of pirates. I say they've damn well earned the right to reap what they've sown and I have half a mind to lend Hierarchy support to the Alliances._" Sparatus countered snappily, waving his hand dismissvely with regards to Tevos' arguments.

"_I concur. The Khar'shan clan is not going to let go of their institution without a fight. We've tried the waiting game for centuries. Surely even an Asari can see how futile it is to keep on sitting on our hindquarters and hoping the country crumbles under sanctions. Best to kick the door in and let the house fall I say._" Din Korlack said, doing his best to pace his breathing while still making it clear that he had no love for the Hegemony in his words.

"_I third this. STG elements in the Alliance and the Hegemony should be able to confirm that the evidence provided is solid, and I can assure you that the Salarian Union's dalatrasses are getting tired of waiting generation after generation for the Hegemony's policies to crack and crumble. I vote for no support to the Hegemony_." The Salarian councillor said before Jaelyn finally cut in.

"_Thoughtfully: All of our peoples have suffered at the hands of Batarian raiders. Continuing thought train: I believe that now is the perfect opportunity to punish the Hegemony for its crimes while shedding a minimum of citadel blood. Decisively: I add my fourth vote to allowing this to unfold, let the Hegemony rot._" The deep voiced Elcor said, earning a series of nods and a sigh from the Asari.

"_Very well._" Tevos said before lowering the screens.

"_Ambassadors, this council lays its favor in the direction of the Alliance of Soviet Democratic Socialist Nations. The Hegemony Ambassador can inform his government that this council will offer no support in the event of a war._" Sparatus said, a barely restrained sense of glee positively dancing behind every word like little schadenfreude ladened sugar plum men on a disco rave.

"_Wh-what!? How dare you! The Hegemony immediately moves to withdraw from this Council and C-space for this farce! And you human! You will see just what you have unleashed upon yourselves!_" The Batarian ambassador spat, his body trembling with anger as he stormed out, his face twisted in an expression of livid rage.

When Sparatus was certain he was out of ear-shot, he spoke up. "_You know? I'm not going to miss him. I might even celebrate._" He said to the chuckles of some in the room.

* * *

Midgard, White Kremlin

The decision to declare war on the Batarian Hegemony had already been made in the minds of most of the parliament. All there was left to do was to actually vote to declare it. And there to make his plea to get that declaration was Prime Minister Howard Ackerman himself. Standing on his podium; he was surrounded by the people of parliament and the figures of the press who all waited for the bald man's words. He had promised the Hegemony ruin if ever the situation devolved to the point of making a general war desireable by the populace. Now they were going to see the full wrath of the Alliance war machine.

"_My countrymen, my fellows of our democratic nations. Today we have presented to the Citadel Council irrefutable evidence that the Batarian Hegemony is behind the Skyllian Blitz, and as promised I have made ourselves ready for the occasion that war is brought to us. Now, let me assure you, we are, and have always been a peace loving people. But when our citizens are in danger, it is our duty to act. And act we shall. The shit licking cowards at Khar'Shan started this war, and I bet they're already dreaming of dictating peace terms right here at this Kremlin._" Ackerman started, periodically sweeping his gaze from parliamentarian to reporter to parliamentarian.

"_But they're not going to get that chance. Because we're strong in our liberties and in the solidarity of our people in one another. Because while we haven't sought this war, we have prepared for it. Because they're fighting to protect an institution of slavery but we're fighting for our safety and our freedom, and ultimately; we'll fight for their freedom too. We're not going to pull punches here. We're not going for anything less than the unconditional surrender of and the dissolution of the Hegemony and the destruction of the chains binding the terminal stage bourgeois dictatorship of the Hegemony. Because by God we're going to make the Galaxy safe for Democracy and Socialism. We're going to leave their whole damn institution of slavery and piracy on the ash heap of history._" He said, slowly stirring up his voice to the applause of the rest of the parliament, though he raised a hand to quiet everyone.

"_The Hegemony may have wanted this war, but they aren't going to like the outcome. Because we're going to drag each and every member of their ruling Junta on Khar'Shan and put him or her on trial and we're going to set their slaves and people free from their servitude. Because we're not some enemy who is going to rest while a government that supports slavery and piratical attacks on innocent beings is allowed to stand. Because we're pretty damn fucking angry and they've been pissing on us and dancing behind our patience, love of peace, and tolerance for decades. But no more, they want war then? Then by God we're going to wake them up!_" He said, to the standing ovation and applause of the rest of the parliamentarians.

"_So I ask of you, fellow lovers of freedom, equality, socialism, democracy, apple pie and borscht. Make the right choice, not just for us, not just for the Batarian people languishing under their caste system or their slaves or their exploitive economic system, but for the galaxy. Freedom isn't free but I fully believe that we're prepared to pay the price for it. So I'm gonna ask you this once, are you going to vote for peace and let the Batarians keep on getting away with this? Or are you going to vote for war and end their immoral institution and smash their cruel and totalitarian state while giving them a well deserved serving of humble pie?_" Ackerman asked, to the intensified ovation of the parliament and the reporters.

* * *

News Broadcast

"_War!_" The headlines rolled as the aftershocks of the declaration rippled across the galaxy.

"_On this day, April 7th 2483, the Alliance of Soviet Democratic Socialist Nations has voted to officially declare war on the Batarian Hegemony, but has issued a statement that it has considered the prior Hegemony backed attacks upon it as a part of the ongoing conflict between the two. Statements by Alliance spokesmen have stated that this war will not be a limited one, but will be one where the entirety of the Allied Union of Nations will throw itself into the complete defeat of the Hegemony._" A Turian anchorman said on Citadel news net, with videos of a triumphant military parade being shown behind him.

"_As you can see, the Alliance military is out on parade as they expect a total victory in the coming conflict that pundits are already lining up to bet on. Our war correspondants are already on the field in the first zones of conflict in this new war. Sirya, how's it looking at the frontlines?_" He asked, the video feed switching over to a world in conflict to an Asari ducking in her trench due to the impact of Batarian artillery while vengeance missiles streaked overhead at some distant target.

"_It's complete chaos here, Batarian and Allied ground forces on the planet are in a whirlwind of violence at the moment, they're firing just about everything they've got at each other and two armoured columns look like they're about to hit each other!_" She said as the wailing roar of multiple rocket launch systems soon started to drown out her words and the sonic boom of low flying strike craft prompted her to quiet down even more while explosions went off in the distance.

She urged the Camera drone upwards to get a better shot, showing a landscape consumed by tracer rounds, directed energy weapons, fires raging out of control, and explosions bursting all over the place while the sihlouettes of infantry and vehicles could be seen, their images being lit up by the light show of the war despite the darkness of the planet's night. Immediately the drone set itself to low light vision to get a better image of the conflict as a scene that could best be described as the apocalypse unfolded all over the camera's field of view.

As enemy troops continued to advance closer and closer, deployed began to open fire while transforming variable weapon turrets based on technology similar to the IFVs let loose with artillery fire, arcing shells crashing amongst the batarian lines while charged up Tesla coils let forth mighty arcs of electricity that reduced men to ash and tanks to slag. Flak turrets with brackets of missiles on their side suddenly swung to life, alerted to the presence of incoming projectiles and spitting forth clouds of black death and streams of glaring missile contrails. As the incoming intruders into their airspace drew closer, quick-firing automatic and directed energy weapons also opened up; seeking to put down the swarm of rockets fired from Batarian MRLS positions.

Some rockets could be stopped, but not all of them. The reporter dived for cover as the world shook and rumbled around her, dust throwing itself into the air as scars were dug into the earth. After thirty seconds, the barrage ceased and she ventured a peek into the world above once more, finding many of the defenses devastated from multiple direct hits. Numerous soldiers lay dead or dying in pieces and the Batarians seemed poised to exploit the gap in the lines. "_We have, troops here, hit hard by a rocket bombardment. I can't be sure of the casualties but-_" She said before the sound of gunship engines forced her attention skywards.

"_-Hold up, we've got an airstrike incoming, they're moving in for an attack run! Get down everyone!_" She said as she threw herself back into cover while her Camera drones continued to try and get the scoop. Some alliance gunships like the Warhawk liberator were made for ambushes and pop and drop engagements spanning long periods of time, relying on stealth, agility, and stand-off . Others, like the muscly Wolfhound Havocs tearing through the skies; were almost intermediaries between gunship and ground attack craft, going quickly in a straight line after lying in ambush position firing a huge number of munitions while having the durability to take hits and return home to do it all over again. These gunships were of the latter; their shark faced fuselages spitting flames from powerful guns while proton missiles exploded amidst the ranks of the enemy's vehicles. Infantry not chewed up by cannon-fire were doused with unguided rockets while a mirage generator dropped to show that the Batarians had wandered towards an outpost of a much larger base with all manners of guns pointing at them. Outnumbered and with the gunships turning around to hem them in, the Batarian scouting force raised its hands in surrender.

"_The whole scouting force has surrendered. Outnumbered and outgunned they've decided to give up the fight to the Alliance base. Hold on; one of them's coming to speak with me now._" She said as a dolphin in a suit much like an enlarged tesla trooper's armor system stomped up to her, looking at her through it's visor as it started clicking, the speech being translated as it left it's beak like snout.

"_Lieutenant General Flakkoikiki Yukokee here ma'am. I understand you have questions._" The Dolphin asked, the mechanical arms of his suit folding behind the armor in a gesture mimicking humans standing at ease.

"_Some in the citadel have expressed worry that the Alliance may seek to wipe out the entirety of the Batarians, citing Ackerman's inflammatory rhetoric about smashing the Hegemonic state and severely anti-hegemony public opinion within the Alliance._" She said, looking up at the cetacean who rapidly clicked it's jaws and let loose a rapid series of clicks that went untranslated, but what she guessed was likely laughter.

"_Ma'am we have no intentions of genocide or anything as crippling as a genophage for batarians or anything of the sort. What we are going to do is destroy an institution that has stood for chattel slavery, caste based divisions, and near limitless exploitation of it's lower classes. We are going to cast down aiders and abetters of piracy, organized crime, the slave trade, and oppressive Terminus system dictatorships. We do not seek to annihlate or conquer the Batarian people; we seek to free them._" He said, his voice stern and unwavering in his convictions.

"_But some say that Slavery is a part of their culture and you have no right to infringe on it."_ She said, personally disagreeing with that statement herself, but knowing she had to try and give every side a voice.

"_Slavery was a part of many earth cultures too. from ancient indentured prisoners of war to industrial chattel slaves to twentieth century prison labor and Epsilon's slave miners. We realized that to take a person's labour from them without recompense and against their will is wrong, and it seems most of the galaxy has also realized this. We reject the idea that tolerance means standing by and doing nothing while evil is being done in the name of culture, faith, or ideology. These are things meant to serve the people, not to be their masters._" He said, his voice rising somewhat as he grew irritated at yet another variation of this question.

"_There are also widespread rumors that other powers might join the war. We have reports that show that the Turian Hierarchy is strongly considering at least supporting anyone going to war with the Batarians, and numerous Asari republics have voted for measures strongly against the Hegemony. We also have rumblings from the Confederacy and the Volus. On the other hand, many Terminus systems states are feeling very nervous about the commencement of the war. What would be the Alliance opinion about the war expanding?"_ She said, looking closely at the beady eyes of the sea-mammal who snapped his jaws together before opening them again.

"_We would be delighted to welcome any comrades who would join us in our struggle to smash the Hegemony and while any who would seek to place themselves on the wrong side of history would be regretfully our enemies as well; we will not be dissuaded from our course by a simple shift in the odds._" He responded, straightening himself a bit before looking the Asari dead in the eye.

"_For both our people and theirs, this conflict must be waged to a successful conclusion_."

* * *

Planet Yherac

Wolfgang von Schafhausen breathed in some air, filtrated through his helmet. Having signed up for the special forces as soon as he could after being enrolled in a military secondary school, he had managed to work his way up to N6, and now it was time to show his superiors what he and his comrades were made out of. With his helmet combining features of the old German paratrooper helmet with a faceplate reminiscent of the flak troopers of the third and fourth world war; he saw the world out of a straight blue, one-way visor and his breath exhaled through the plate that covered the rest of his face deemed unneeded for his ability to see. He had grown into a tall, well shaped man at just about two meters with a lean and mean physique with shoulders on the narrower side of things and well toned but not particularly enlarged muscles beneath his skin, and his golden blonde hair kept in a neat windswept cut with the bangs going to just a bit past the brow at the longest. He had gotten the nickname of baby-face from his comrades who teased him about his lack of facial hair and his fresh-faced appearance, but a beard wouldn't have been particularly comfortable in the helmet and his looks got him appreciative looks from more than a few girls in his unit. There was also the nickname of "Sauerkraut" which he did his best to ignore.

He checked through his inventory of weapons. His trusty Tesla rifle was functioning at full capacity, his Prism pistol was at the ready if things got to the point of needing it, he carried a kinetic burst shotgun in case of close quarters operations, a kinetic burst submachine gun in case things got really hairy; his armor came with wrist-mounted flame-throwers and grapple beam launchers; a single missile was readied on the jump-jets if needed, a small collapsible sniper rifle was there if he needed it at any point, and he carried no small number of grenades to go with it. He even carried some S.H.R.I.N.K and M.A.S.S discs as utility items. He definitely came loaded to bear, that was for sure. For close combat, he had an omnitool ready on either hand, as well as wave-force bayonets. While not quite the equal of a wave-force sword or a mass effected mace or hammer, most people would probably not want to be on the receiving end of those.

Implanted in him, among other things, was a biotic amp, with his talents having been discovered when he went into military school. The Alliance was in the unenviable position of being behind the citadel in terms of Biotics and behind the Dominion in terms of Psionics, making any potentially discovered biotics a valuable commodity to the Alliance.

And now he was nervous. The target was a series of Batarian war factories continually producing tanks for Batarian troops on the planet Yhreac that were bogging down Alliance offensives in the area and even pushing many back. Obviously, it had to go, either captured for Alliance use or blown to pieces, and orbital defense platforms were making bombardment too risky and air strikes have proven incapable of taking them properly out of commission. "_Hey Wolfgang, you scared boy?_" Asked Yakov Ivanovich, the big bear of a man being both substantially older than Wolfgang; having seen thirty two years of life, and substantially heavier. His deep voice almost seemed to rumble out of his throat, and his heavy desolator armor only made him seem even larger.

"_Slightly, just slightly._" He said with a nervous chuckle before gulping. He dearly hoped that he could do his parents proud, and another part of him was even more concerned with coming back in one piece. He clutched his tesla rifle tightly in his gauntleted hands, the mechanisms of the suit moving as he did as the estimated time to drop ticked down on his HUD. The transport bucked a bit, turbulence from the swept wing mirage cloaked bomber spreading it's wings to slow down.

"_We'll be fine, I'm sure of it._" Katerina Vladmirovna Ivanovna said, the Combat engineer shifting on her feet slightly. One of the spunkiest members of the group, Katerina was also older than Wolfgang was, but you'd never know from how the peppy redhead carried herself; positively bouncey with her exuberance and her enthusiasm for the Alliance's cause. "_I mean, we went through our session of Chinese parliament to make sure we knew what we were getting into right?_" Katerina said, and she was right; the Unit's Soviet went through High Command's plans and made their own modifications based on their more immediate intelligence with every member of the operation having a vote on the affair.

"_Gah I hate all this waiting. When can we get into the thick of it?_" Akifume Shinzo grunted, sucking in some air and looking damn unhappy about it. Transferred from Imperial regiments, Shinzo brought his psychic abilities and close combat expertise to the team, but the man always seemed a bit on edge.

"_Why's that?_" Wolfgang asked, quirking a brow beneath his helmet.

"_On the ground you can set the terms of engagement. Here all I can do is hope we don't get blown out of the sky. That's a bullshit way to die. If I'm going to face down the enemy I don't want to end up dead because of some inbred drunkard pissing out a SAM and sending us all faceplanting into the ground. And Vera, if you insist on staring at me I'm going to have to start charging you.._" He said, not even turning to look at the team's sniper and her target marker, John Paul Bundie.

"I_ would hope that you can focus on the mission at hand rather than trying to undress me with your mind's eye. If you want to do that, get me a drink first; and a burger at least.._" He said; telepathy letting him reach into the unguarded and unhelmeted mind of the sniper. The black haired woman scoffed in response, fixing her hair into a bun.

"_Oh don't worry, I'll make sure to leave some for you compadre. I'm sure I'll have you begging to leave you a few kills. Can't be easy to wave around in CQC while the snipers get all the best targets._" She said with a wicked, devilish grin once she finished with her hair and picked up her rifle; a weapon whose design philosophy descended from the weapon of the famed Miles Morales, who she herself had descended from and wished to surpass. Though with the likes of Natasha Volkova around; the competition was going to be stiff being wildly optimistic.

_"Can we not bicker?_" Joseph sighed, with Jenkins also adding his voice to the opinion dissenting against all the back and forth going on. "_Yeah, it's damn unprofessional._" Jenkins said, holding his rifle close to his chest.

"_It's just some friendly talk._" Katerina said with a grin beneath her helmet, clearly in the mindset to not let anything get to her this day.

"_You all talk a bit too much for my liking. If we can maintain comm discipline during the operation I'll count it as a minor miracle_. _If you want to blabber and chitchat, we can go to the bar after the mission and I'll have all of you lightweights shitfaced and smashed before you know it._" Liu Han said, cutting through the conversation as quickly as she could, the Chinese woman checking the screens that showed the outside world repeatedly. As a biotic she was someone who most troopers treated with a bit of reverential awe; controlling mass effect fields remained rather novel to the Alliance and quite a few people would have some trouble telling you what was biotics and what was psionics without a manual at their fingertips. It also brought her and Wolfgang together as friends, and made this squad rather unusual in having two biotics among it.

"_She is right, you could all do with a bit of piping down._" Valerie Thomas said, the dark skinned N7 operative; clad in blue marked armor that bore a short black tunic and more distinctive, more flared pauldrons and a helmet whose respirator parts always made her look like she was frowning being one of two people meant to observe their performance from the ground.

_"You're going to be deploying with regulars, other N6ers, and some of the N7s you're all chomping at the bit to join. Your performance here is going to determine whether you're just going to be the best of the rest, or join the cream of the crop. It may also determine whether you have a future in the Alliance military or a future as a name on a wall of martyrs. These aren't the pirates we've been beating up on before, these are professional military men. They have been educated on how to hate and kill you from birth. But their training is not perfect, many of them have surrendered before and we expect others to surrender in the future. If they do surrender, I do not want to see any of you deciding that this is a hard galaxy that needs hard folks who make hard decisions._" She said, her voice stern and hard and utterly devoid of any hint that its speaker was in the mood for nonsense and shenanigans.

"_The eyes of the galaxy are on us and they expect us to fight an honorable war and so do our people. The batarians soldiers and their mercenaries are people just like any of us. Compromising on our promise to all the oppressed peoples of the universe for the sake of expediency is not the hard decision. Taking the morally reprehensible choice because it's quicker to do or takes less resources or teaches them a lesson is not the difficult choice. The hard thing is taking prisoners when it stretches our resources or you just want each one of them to pay in blood. The hard thing is stopping or slowing the advance or retreat to help civilians or letting a terrorist go to save his hostages. The hard thing is doing things the hard way because it's also the more righteous way. So I had better not see any of you going down the wrong road._" Valerie said, all the soldiers standing at attention and remaining silent as she spoke.

"_That clear?_"

"_Yes comrade!_" Came the response.

"_Good_." She said with a smile at last as Antione de Leon; the leader of the outfit; bearing his N7 marker proudly, the Major's distinctive capped helmet having much eye-pieces rather than a long visor, the rebreather/vocoder carrying a similar "frown" to Valerie's helmet, his mechanized pauldrons almost seeming to point slightly upwards, the blood red markings on his suit, and his armor's tunic certainly making him stand out, stepped up to the plate.

"_We are deploying in ten seconds; I want to see you all descending close to each other and close to our heavy support. Those robot tanks and drones will save your life, I guarantee it. Now, when I make a command, I expect you all to follow it unless the circumstances would make that impossible or an unneeded sacrifice of your life. I expect you to carry out orders with initiative, not just mindlessly do what I do._" He said as the bay opened up behind him, prompting the sergeant to rush them through the bay to jump out; with Yakov being the last one to come out before a number of robotic units followed them out. Other bays on the plane opened up to let other squads out, while other planes dropped their own payloads of soldiers on top of the Batarian industrial site. Wild weasel strikes went across the base, trying to occupy or destroy anti-air defenses to let the dropping soldiers get down without incident.

Even with the efforts to try and tie up Batarian anti-air assets, some remained available to open fire on the descending troops. Some of the troops fired up their packs and maintained a level flight; the Rocketeers sweeping across the battlefield and opening fire; pulsing shots strobing towards the ground as the night sky sihlouetted Wolfgang and the others.

"+_Everyone alright?_+" Wolfgang said as he tried not to look at the ground, letting his altimeter inform him of how much time he had until impact.

"+_Doing just fine here! Loving the view comrade!_+" Katerinasaid, offering him a thumbs up as she plummeted towards the Earth, a soldier from another unit being "licked" by a stream of rounds that made them start to tumble in their descent, falling towards the ground in a dead slump. Another was struck by an SAM that made the trooper disappear entirely in the fireball's blast, and Wolfgang dared not look to see what may have been left of him. Another squad was annihilated by a stream of anti-missile lasers that carved through them like turkeys, and a third was annihilated by HMG fire before the nests were silenced by a Vindicator diving down and raking their positions with its gatling accelerator.

"_Shit!_" He said as two robot tanks were destroyed by ground flak, followed by a Warhawk Liberator gunship that tumbled right on out of the sky. "+_Shouldn't we try to fall faster?_+" Wolfgang said as Antione assessed the situation, waving his hand in a negative gesture to him.

"+_That would make coordinating our landing too difficult, stay on course, the war factory is right beneath us!+_" Antione said, with Wolfgang amazed by the calm in his voice.

"+_How are we making our entrance?_+" Vera said, chewing her lower lip as the HALO jump approached its destination at a rapidly increasing rate; with not even the somewhat lower surface gravity of the planet relative to Midgard taking the edge off of the incredible rush of descending at tremendous speeds.

"+_Yakov has shock absorbers._+" Valerie said with a grin to Vera's confusion.

"+_He's going to smash through the ceiling!_+" John shouted over the comms as Vera's eyes widened at the descending bulk of the enormous desolator, who seemed to be ridiculously pleased with his method of entry given his cackling laughter over the comms. Oh boy, Wolfgang thought, Yakov already seemed crazy to him but this seemed to just take it to the next level.

"+_What about the other squads?_+" Jenkins said, looking at those squads converging their drops towards the roof of that war factory in particular.

"+_We'll have others joining us of course, try not to embarass this squad while you're working with them! Now, fire retrothrusters!_+" Antione said as he righted himself and fired off his grav-chute's engines to slow himself down, followed by the others save for Yakov who just rocketed on past them, his huge frame descending at great speeds and whistling as it went through the air just before his now forming sonic boom rustled Wolfgang, making his stomach do all manner of knots.

"+_Those suits can survive that?_+" Wolfgang said with surprise.

"+_They don't make them much tougher than large scale battlesuits comrade, they've been doing higher drops than this since the fourth world war.. I'm sure you could drop him out of a cruiser and he'd be fine. Just like in those shitty action movies you like._+" Katerina said as she fired up her jets, Wolfgang rolling his eyes in response, with each member of the squadron doing so in turn. Then Yakov slammed into the roof of the war factory like a penetrating bomb, crushing a section of roof beneath his impact and only then activating his thrusters to slow him down so that he only cracked rather than shattered the floor beneath the roof.

A flash of radiation registered on his suit's scanners as Yakov let loose with rad-cannons and the immensely toxic and corrosive desolator defoliants and Wolfgang let in a bit of a gulp. He had heard that large scale desolators were a rather unpleasant thing to find yourself next to, but watching Batarians melt into puddles of goo was something else entirely. "Oh man..." Wolfgang said to himself as Akifume passed by a shocked looking Batarian patrolman on the roof, withdrew his Wave-force blade, and cut him in half before kicking the corpse over the roof of the building, opening fire with his carbine before jumping down.

Wolfgang hit the ground second, his thrusters bringing him to a gentle landing inside the war factory and into a hailstorm of fire.

"_Good day tovarisch, the catch here is quite good, please; do help yourself._" Yakov said as rifle rounds pattered off his shielding, jets of defoliant lashing out at the Batarian soldiers firing at him. He fired fired a special corrosive spray that reacted with the cover the Batarians were hiding behind in such a way that the following spray of defoliant melted through the metal like it would flesh; the Batarians barely having enough time to scream before they were covered in the glopping liquid that no amount of slowing from kinetic barriers could prevent from touching the bodies of the Batarians. Armor, flesh, bone, and weaponry were reduced to nothing in no time, little more than foul smelling puddles that hissed and bubbled as they started eating into the floor until they had completely reacted themselves into inertness.

Not wasting time, Wolfgang's combat reflexes kicked in as he sought cover, hurling greeting the batarian reinforcements who were as of yet; unaware that their comrades had been slain with bursts of electricity from his tesla rifle. The blue arcs of energy streaked across the combat area with breath-taking quickness and struck the lead batarian with enough force to blaze a hole in their armor and set about its grizzly work on their flesh, rounds pockmarking the cover he took while the electricity burst out of the struck batarian; a large stream aiming for another Batarian while smaller streams leaped at any other targets they could. The smaller streams hurt the other batarians, but it was the primary tributary bolt that managed to get him a second kill; repeating the process twice more until it simply lacked enough energy to keep on going.

"+_Heads up!_+" Katerina said as she announced her arrival with the firing of a grenade from her rapid firing launcher, the explosive round forcing more of the Batarians back before she switched to her automatic shotgun and let loose hellstorm of mass accelerator rounds; all blazing red with incendiaries, created an on demand conflagration that bought the group some time while the rest arrived.

"_Hey...where's Shinzo?_" She asked, looking around; only for the psychic to quickly cut in.

"_Right behind you. Maybe next time I should pickpocket you and see how long it takes for you to realize you're missing something important.._" He said as he emerged from his position, having focused on trying to pick out thoughts that might lead them to their destination and thus stayed behind cover.

"_Your drones are here...you know, if you aren't too busy with mouthing off about stupid shit. _" Liu Han said as she jumped into the room, a set of terror drones and a pair of hovering robot tanks making their presences known. The terror drones skittered as their analyzed the situation, the squad EVA updating to list the robots as attached to their unit, followed by smaller tech-drones and the pair of medical, crisis drones who would ensure that everyone was in tip top condition.

"_Any left for me?_" Vera said to Antoine's chagrin as he jumped down into the room and surveyed the area.

"_War is not a kill contest Vera. It's about who achieves their objectives without exhausting their resources and who doesn't._" The French man said with as he let a small camera drone into the hallway standing in front of him. The drone hovered for a bit and looked through both possible routes noting that the room was clear. Making an advance with me gesture, Antoine lead the way into the next room, drawing his twin proton pistols as he did so.

The howls of Varren soon put Wolfgang on edge as Antione ordered "+_Watch yourself for Varren and keep them from aiming their shots properly. Yakov is too big to fit through this room so he's going to have to go in another way with one of the robot tanks_. _Get your CQC weapons out, you don't want to be fumbling with a long arm when they're trying to bite your faces off._+" He said, the rushing of the alien predatory beasts preceding the arrival of Batarians with shields copied from Alliance Peacekeeper units, shotguns presented as they moved in a tightly knit phalanx also copied from Peacekeeper building clearing forces.

"_Shit, they're learning! That's supposed to be our trick!_" Jenkins said as he opened up fire with his kinetic burst mass accelerator rifle, soon joined by John, Vera, Liu Han, and Akifume as cover was quickly sought. Liu Han thought quickly while Wolfgang fired up his Tesla rifle, keeping the Batarians worried about advancing farther, Akifume still being busy trying to work his psychic tricks on the minds of the Batarians but finding that their well disciplined psyches were well proofed against psychic tricks. As Valerie revved up a Prism cannon to hose the area down with suppressive fire, Liu Han and Wolfgang made the gestures needed to create a biotic barrier of sufficient size to catch the varrens; aided by Shinzo who cut his feed of energy into his attempted telepathy to try and join his telekinesis with their biotics to stop the Varren cold; then all three threw the caught Varren with enough force to launch the predators into the air, sending them at the Batarian phalanx.

Breathing out quickly, Liu Han dived back into cover as the Batarians shuffled backwards to avoid their comrades, some breaks in their shield line giving Antione the space he needed to pump packets of charged particles into the openings; bolts of energy slamming into Batarians from his pistols and sending them sprawling from the loud pulses of power that smacked into them with a sound like an electronic version of a drumbeat, while Katerina and Wolfgang opened up with grenades and tesla fire respectively.

Thinking fast, wolfgang threw a pair of frag grenades, then another pair of cyro-grenades at the batarians, ducking back behind cover after confirming a kill shot with his tesla rifle on a trio of varren that had recovered from being launched. The Batarians doubled backwards under shield cover to draw away from the detonations, which provided just enough distraction for Katerina to input some commands into a robot tank to lead it into the hallway, the hovering drone traversing its turret and speaking loudly and clearly with a voice like thunder, its main gun punching through several Batarians and its anti-personnel machine guns forcing their heads down.

"+_Where are the terror drones?_" Wolfgang asked.

"+_Right behind the robot tank._+" Liu Han responded as she opened up to try and keep the heads of the batarians down.

"+_Bring them in now!_+" Wolfgang said, managing to catch Antione turning to him and nodding with approval as the skittering, insect like drones rushed forward and let loose ear splitting shrieks as they leaped into the Batarians, bladed limbs and cutting tools meant to carve into tanks making short work out of simple infantry armor and flesh. Some buried themselves into chest cavities, others simply cut open limbs or stabbed into heads and hearts, some disembowled their targets, and others just lacerated to the point that they just bled and died. But with their formation broken, the Batarians could do little but die; with the Adept among them trying to aid his fellows with his biotic powers being singled out for a head rupturing shot from Vera's sniper rifle, his body flopping to the ground as the crack of her rifle faded from the air.

Jenkins was clearly doing everything he could to pointedly ignore the dead bodies while John resignedly sighed as he brought up a map of the suspected building plans. "+_The best place to place charges to blow up this place shouldn't be too far from here. A staircase on the other end of the hallway should lead us to the most weight bearing parts of the facility._+" He said as he looked over the holographic map.

"+_Didn't commandos used to blow up buildings within seconds of entering? Like the Tanyas or Volkov? Why isn't this place a fucking scrapyard yet?_+" Jenkins asked, stepping well past the pile of dead batarians.

"+_These are a lot larger than your typical MCV produced war factory, it's just not gonna be that simple. If it were they'd just drop some N7 hardass who eats lightning and shits thunder and we'd be home by now._+" John responded.

"+_Well, then; Yakov; are you ready? We could use one of those big mittens of yours on our side right about now._+" Antoine said over his comms.

"+_Yes comrade Major, I can arrive just about when you will. I trust you have not been waiting too long._+" Yakov responded.

"+_Ah fuck don't worry about it, I've had worse waits. I'm sending the second robot tank back to reinforce you then. Try to be there when we arrive._+" Valerie said as she designated her commands to the robotic machine, which scurried into the hole, along with gun armed tech drones to try and provide Yakov with as much firepower as they could afford to spare him.

"+_Follow me comrades._+" Antoine said, pointing to the stair case. "+_Other squads, I want you to move up to reinforce us._+" Antoine ordered, acknowledging their responses before he advanced down the staircase, followed by the rest of the squad. An eerie silence soon followed, with the most distinctive thing being the sudden absence of Batarians who had once swarmed over the area.

"_I don't like this, these stairs are an easy way to bottle up our advance...why stop fighting now?_" Wolfgang said, sweeping his helmet clad gaze over the area as he checked for avenues of ambush, the coils of his tesla rifle humming and throbbing as the electricity within almost screamed for release.

"_I'm betting it's am ambush. Drinks on me if it isn't._" Katerina said as she walked next to him, her grenade launcher out just as his Tesla rifle was, Wolfgang turning his head towards her and sighing.

"_It's not exactly polite to eavesdrop you know?_" He said with a little coy smirk beneath his helmet.

"_You don't exactly talk quietly when you're talking to yourself._" Katerina chuckled.

"_I don't think you talk quietly in any circumstance Katerina._" Wolfgang shot back, grinning beneath his helmet as Katerina punched him in the shoulder.

"_Would it kill you two to find a room?_" Vera said with some measure of disdain to her voice, rolling her eyes at the two Germans as she advanced with her assault rifle, maintaining a steady rate of breath.

"_Shhh! You can spew whatever bullshit comes to your mind after the mission._" Liu Han said harshly before Valerie turned towards the others.

"+_Shut your bloody mouths._+" Was all she said and all she needed to say over the comms.

"~_Finally._~" Akifume said through his telepathy as the group approached the door, with Antoine giving a halt signal to the rest of his team as he walked towards the door and quickly forced it open via his splicing skills picked up in N-7, turning towards the opening door and seeing other Alliance troopers filing in.

"+_All troops, get to your positions and prepare to set charge-_+" Antoine never managed to finish before an anti-materiel round slammed right through his helmet and sent the contents of his head out the exit hole made by the bullet, with similar decapitating strikes being made at the other identified officers. Immediately the comms were filled with confused noise as panic set in.

"_Major!_" Valerie shouted before a round went through her chest and threw her onto the ground; killed practically instantly by a munition meant to deal with armored vehicles.

"+_Get down!_+" Wolfgang ordered as he moved into cover, the Batarians unveiling their trump cards, crack regular troops rather than the prior conscripted fodder as well as mercenaries from the Blood Pact, the Talon, the Eclipse, and the Phantom Syndicate's assorted PMCs such as Legion security.

"+_Well, well, well. I knew I could rely on the Alliance to try and put these factories out of commission. That they chose this as an N6 training ops was a surprise though. Not an unpleasant one however. In one stroke I can cut down a whole crop of N7 operatives to be and their officers. Oh I'm sure there are plenty more of your kind where you came from, but this should be the one of many humbling lessons for you damned reds and blues._+" A voice said over the comm systems as the gathered Batarian forces started opening fire again, pinning down the already demoralized allies.

"+_Your kind may have thwarted the Skyllian blitz, but rest assured that the punishment that will fall upon you for marching with your lunatic of a prime minister into war with us will be most fitting.+" He said, the sneer practically palpable on his face despite him not being visible. _

_"+For too long have you humans and cetaceans and whatever other species crawled out of your planets been allowed to grow without check or balance. But now that full scale war has been declared, we'll look forward to dictating terms on Midgard, I think annexation will do._+" The voice said again as Wolfgang tried to take count of the situation. Pinned down by mass accelerator, railgun, rocket, gyrojet, and monowire fire, he decided to deal with anti-vehicle fire first.

"_Vera, John, Jenkins, lay down some sniping fire. John and Jenkins; go for the infantry, Vera, use that anti-materiel rifle on the battlesuits. Katerina and Akifume, come with me, I want to see if we can play some havoc with their systems. Liu Han, try to provide some cover in case anyone gets close; put up sentry guns. You two over there._" He said, gesturing to where he wanted everyone to go as well as sending them their data over their their EVA units, he then pointed at a peacekeeper in specialized armor with space for extra tools and a figure in a Siege Cadre prism trooper set of armor with special valves emerging from the head, identifying the two as a combat engineer and a psychic respectively.

"_Join with Liu Han, give her what cover she needs and try to help her set up defenses._" He said as he looked for a way to get his plan into action before looking at his EVA and going to Yakov. "+_Comrade Yakov, what's your ETA?_+" He asked, desperately hoping Yakov could be on the field soon.

"+_Not too far away comrade. I rendevouzed with my fellow large scale battlesuit wearers and picked up some robot tanks on the way. Hope you don't mind of course, I wanted to bring as much firepower to the fight as I could._+" He said with a surprisingly easy chuckle.

"+_Well just hurry up, the basement is the site of an ambush and we need all the guns we can get on our side. Our lives are in your hands comrade, so please, please be careful with them._+" He said as he cut off the feed, then looked up and saw a quick route to walk ways leading to a control room on top.

"+_Comrades, I'm going to head to a control room where I can piss l all over their parade and warn the other strike forces of the ambushes. Take some of the heat off us alright comrades? Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours...with bloody ripped off arms of course. Ura!_+" He shouted into the comms, with the cry of "URA!" being echoed across the room as the Allies found their targets and their courage once again, this time adding their own heavy weapons fire to the mix in spades, the Batarians and mercenaries reeling from the sudden strikes.

Designating a terror drone to follow them while Akifume collected the proton pistols of their fallen comrade Antione, he turned his attention to the level above them. Putting power into their jump jets, he, Akifume, and Katerina landed on the ground of the walkways of the second level with a distinct thud as a number of Turian mercenaries firing into the lower levels of the Factory's bottom floor were raking the area with assault rifles and machine guns. Starting up his tesla rifle, he shot into the pair, not even watching as their twitching, blackened bodies fell off the rails, the insulated boots of the trio keeping them safe from the electricity conducting into the grating. As they charged through, Katerina let loose a proton grenade, the low velocity shell spinning as the fin stabilized munition made some final adjustments to explode in the middle of a Batarian fire team, the powerful grenade tearing apart bodies and throwing others off the railing, the survivors screaming as they fell to their deaths.

Turning to look above them, Akifume fired off a quartet of proton bolts above him, the bolts punching right through the grating and striking a Krogan wielding a gatling gun in the back, his armor and shielding failing in succession before the blood pack mercenary's ragged corpse flopped over the rail, with Shinzo telekinetically lobbing a trio of grenades into their midst, the blood pack soldiers noticing the incendiaries just soon enough to panic before they detonated amongst them. Just then, Yakov and a number of other heavy battlesuits and robot tanks came smashing through the walls, Yakov snorting as the robot tanks elevated their guns and let loose shells into the higher levels, aiming at the battlesuits that had taken up residence there while he aimed his nozzles and rad-cannons upwards and let them have it; arcing tesla bolts, heavy munitions, cyro-sprays, prism and spectrum beams, vacuum shells, mag-beams, and proton weaponry all being unleashed upon the Batarian forces, who faltered for but a moment before turning their focus to the new arrivals.

As a Mars pattern battlesuit busily reloaded its railguns after taking out an alliance battlesuit, with a second being brought down by repeated application of anti-tank missile fire following constant machine gun fire to draw the Tesla Trooper's shields down, the devastating thunderclap of its large hypersonic munitions being audible across the room, the other two of its four rail guns seeking targets; a little terror drone leaped at the Syndicate designed battlesuit. The drone scampered on the shoulders of the battlesuit and started tearing away, making its way towards it's "head" and quickly cutting it open with close range spectrum beams and wave-force limb blades, giving it a hole to enter the suit itself. The Battlesuit twitched and jerked as a muffled scream came from within followed by a wet noise and a gurgle before the drone exploded outwards, shrieking as it leaped onto the next victim; the Batarian's four eyes widening before two of his eyes were gouged out by the vicious little robot.

Following the drone was Akifume, who charged at distracted Batarian anti-tank troopers; propelling himself faster than he normally could go with his psychic abilities as he let out an adrenaline raising shout and carved the first trooper's head clean off, then ducked down before making a forward step to make an upper cutting bisection of the next, then stabbing a third downwards through the head as he rushed forwards; Wolfgang raising a biotic barrier around him to bolster his durability while Kate let loose some gun drones who drew focus away from the others. "We're almost there." Wolfgang said mostly to himself as he noticed an incoming Varren and quickly shot it thrice with a quickdrawn Prism pistol, the alien predator shrieking and then expiring as the scattering beams boiled, bubbled, and burnt its flesh away.

"+_Sir, we're taking heavy fire here...Not sure if we can make i-urk!_+" Said a voice he identified as..

"+_JOHN!_+" Vera shouted as her spotter went down.

"+_S-sir, John just took big hits from enemy snipers, want me to try dragging him out?_+" Jenkins said, and from the EVA link, Schafhausen could see that Jenkins had a clear shot at pulling back.

"_Yakov, try to get some cover for Jenkins, let him pull back with John._+" Schafhausen shouted, with the desolator shouting back with

"+_I'll try sir. No problem, they'll be safe in no time. Let them keep on squirting their water pistols at me, I'll be fine._+" Yakov said jovially as he moved to try and get them to safety. But noticing the reshuffling of troops, the enemy reshifted some of their focus. A stream of missiles was fired at John and Jenkins as they pulled back, with Yakov doing as he was expected to and maneuvering to block the missiles, his shields holding fairly well as he retaliated.

His decision to not take cover soon proved to be a fatal mistake as a pair of turrets then followed up with IFV grade mass accelerator fire, pushing Yakov back and back before a crack of a pair of railguns slammed into and through his suit, which went limp as the guiding intelligence went dead inside, streams of blood coming from behind the battlesuits as another set of missiles exploded behind the now inert battlesuit, consuming Jenkins and John in the flames. Horror made its way onto the faces of those who watched the two flail and thrash about, running towards any aid they could and screaming as they burned to death before they finally and mercifully began to slow down and fell on their faces; the rents in their blackened armor showing their horribly charred bodies.

Schafhausen's helmet filled with the sound of three flatlines within moments of each other and he for a moment, seemed lost as to what to do as Kate laid down fire from her grenades to deal with troops opening fire on their position. But a smack into his shielding from mass accelerator fire soon reminded him of where he was, and with a quick series of blinks he shoved the incident into the back of his mind. He was running on Adrenaline now, and turned his frustrations on incoming Vorcha who had struck him earlier; giving them a healthy dosage of burning liquid to the face from his wrist-mounted flamethrower. They screamed as they burned, and he was quick to make use of his tesla rifle, jumping above them with his jets to get back with his compatriots.

Landing in front of the door of the control room, he quickly applied some explosives and moved to the side as the door breaching charges did their work, letting the three and their terror drone inside. Following them came a fresh-set of terror drones and a whole fire-team of N6 operatives who had also fought their way into the area; the operatives levelling assorted weapons and shouting at the Batarians before opening fire. In a quick firefight, the outnumbered batarians who had weapons on them and the pair of Syndicate Legionaries who raised their gyrojet rifles only to be focused down and cut down; with the remainder quickly throwing their hands up.

Looking around, Schafhausen noticed an additional Batarian snarling as he started pressing some buttons on the terminal. "_You're too late human, I've set this facility to self destruct. Know that I am Ka'hairal Balak and that this day will be the bitterest of victories for you, two eyed scum._" He said as he edged near a door before slamming a button on the wall that conjured a force field in front of him; one that seemed capable of deflecting even Schafhausen's tesla rifle as the Batarian beat a hasty retreat, a signal being sent to the remaining Batarian troops to evacuate the factory.

"_Ugh that fucking worm!_" Katerina said, a scowl forming on her face before she rushed over to the terminal and gave it a look; taking the time to go over it with her scanners and then do some mark one eyeball checks via removing a few panels before her expression turned very solemn beneath her helmet as she smacked her hand against the terminal.

"_We can either try and deactivate the force field and run after him or we can disable the self destruct Schafhausen; I don't have enough time to do both. And we've got too many injured to get everyone out before this timer runs out._" She said, her grim sounding prognosis sitting poorly in Schafhausen. He sighed and an internal conflict played out in his mind. On one hand, he could try and tell all the people to evacuate and save some of them while he chased Balak to try and bring him in to see what intelligence he had...but he wouldn't be able to save all of them. Remembering the words of Valerie, he made his choice.

"_No, we're not letting anymore people die. Not on my watch, deactivate the self destruct, let him go for now. Inform other troops waiting to make second wave drops that the other factories are likely containing similar traps._" Schafhausen ordered, shaking his head and exhaling tiredly, hoping he was making the right choice here.

"_Yes sir._" She responded, and after a few tense moments, the base's self destruct sequence was halted, and a coded message was sent to other waiting strike teams that the factories had ambushes ready.

"_I suppose it's over then. I'll be seeing you all in the bar._" Akifume said, sheathing his blade in its scabbard.

* * *

Alliance Forward Operating Base, Yherac, that night

"_Reload._" Wolfgang said as he sat down the base's bar, the Synthetic manning the counter pouring him another shot of chocolate infused stout. He was tired to say the least, and his eyes were still puffy from tears shed earlier that day. Some people endeavored to cry as little as possible, but Wolfgang wasn't one of them, one could see that he was in need of a pick me up from just looking at him.

Another glass was asked for, and another was given, but when he reached for it to take it up in his hands and down it he stopped himself. Finding himself staring into his drink, he let himself get lost in his own thoughts for a while. He tried to think of ways he could have reduced the losses taken, and in his musings he found himself thinking more and more about Balak. How he could have found a way to not only complete the mission but capture that damn weasel.

He stopped when he felt the shot glass start to give way and shook his head. No he reminded himself, there wasn't anything to gain by focusing on that. He let out a sigh and calmed himself, letting that coiling sensation in his stomach and around his chest relax as he regained control of his temper.

"_So what's on your mind?_" Kat said, the woman's interruption of his musings startling him. Where the hell did she come from? He found himself thinking as she sat herself down in the chair next to him. She looked at his drink and then back to him and gave him a concerned expression, tilting her head a bit at him.

"_Just thinking about what to do for the victory celebration myself. Should we go for a barbecue or a cocktail party?_" He said, sounding more than a bit insincere right away.

"_Is that really it Wolfy_?" She said, placing a hand on his shoulder and taking his glass out of his hand, scooting it over to herself.

"_No...It's...we lost a lot of people there, on my watch. I shouldn't have been so aggressive...I might have been able to keep them alive and then catch Balak_." He said, relaxing slightly as the glass was taken out of his hand. His smile disappeared, but he seemed to be a bit more at ease now that he was able to talk to someone about his feelings.

"_Wolfy..._" She said softly, her expression softening and prompting him to tilt his head as her voice got lower and more serious. She herself had a youthful countenance, further aided by a usually peppy demeanor; which complimented Wolfgang's own boyish daring quite well, when she got serious like this though, she almost seemed like a different person, especially with her hair tied in a more professional braid rather than being allowed to flow freely like she preferred it.

"_I'm not going to tell you to forget about it. That's bullshit advice._" She said, scooting a little closer to him as she patted his shoulder, trying to give him a warm smile to cheer him up a bit.

"_I'm not going to tell you to cheer up or some other manic pixie dreamgirl bullshit either. What I am going to tell you though, is that if you want to do good by them, you need to grow from what happened in the factory. Can you promise that?_" She said, getting a nod out of Wolfgang as he thought about it.

"_I'm also going to talk to a psychologist about what happened...see if I can work out some therapy._" Wolfgang said, Kat responding with an approving nod and a thumbs up.

"_That's exactly what you should be doing Schafhausen. Besides, if you want to mope you can come over to my quarters and we'll mope together over some dumbass action movie."_ She said, punctuating the end of her statement by giving him a little punch to the shoulder.

"_Thanks Kat. And I was going to ask you the same question...but the moping would be over role playing games._" He said, giving her a wide smile and laughing a bit.

"_So ice Cream this time? When you're done trying to drink past your metabolism?_" She asked, prompting him to pause and think.

"_Yeah definitely Ice Cream. I could totally go for some Ice Cream when we can. Think they'll have gummies to put on the ice cream?_" He said, rubbing his chin a bit as he pondered the thought.

"_Schafhausen my man. Gummie worms and ice cream sounds most excellent._" She grinned at him as the two pulled each other in for a hug.

"_Care to share a drink with me?_" Came a voice from another part of the bar, Akifume leaning in a bit closer to Liu Han. Off the battlefield, the ruddy brown haired Japanese man seemed almost completely different. He was lean like an eel, his neatly combed hair came to bangs that stopped a bit short of his eyes, and he became downright gregarious, trying to chat up the short haired Chinese woman who cast him a quick glance to make sure his eyes weren't wandering anywhere she didn't fancy them wandering.

"_You wouldn't last a minute trying to drink what I like Aki._" Liu said with a coy smirk.

"_Hrmph, worth a shot._" He said with a shake of his head and a small smile.

"_Vera how about you?_" He said, raising a glass as Vera simply glared at him with a caustic look that seemed to bore a hole straight into Aki's very soul. Having let her remarkably long black hair out of its bun and put her dress uniform pilotka on the table, Vera had been rather quiet through this whole drinking session, pointedly looking at an empty seat from time to time.

"_I'm not really in the mood. I'll take you up on that when I stop feeling like I have a hole in my heart. Promise._" She said, giving a bitter, forced smile before she sucked in air through her nostrils and looked back down at the table, idly flicking through various tabs on her omnitool.

"_John will be missed by us all, Vera._" Liu Han said sympathetically.

"_He was a great friend...what am I going to tell his sister? I can't break her heart like that. On my last date with her before our deployment she asked me to keep him safe...God..._" She said, holding her head in her hands as she tried to think about what to do next.

"_The EVA will tell her before you can, it probably already has told her too. You should talk to her when you can, she's over in the peacekeeper base. It'll be best for you to grieve together rather than apart._" Liu Han said, frowning as she went over to Vera to pat her on the shoulder.

"_Yeah, that's...you're right. I need to be up front about this. Hiding the pain won't do anything._" She said, straightening herself a bit and trying to regain her composure.

"_Yo Vera_." Kat said, Vera's focus snapping right over to her as she just about jolted towards Kat.

"_We'll be here for you when you need it. And I'll chalk you up with Valiant Asma too. She's really great if you need a headshrink._" Kat said, raising a glass up and giving Vera a little smile.

"_Oh, your psychologist is a Valiant?_" Vera said, a little smile returning to her face.

"_Yep. You can bet her shiny metal butt she is._" Kat said.

"_Tch, a psychologist I can't look into the mind of._" Akifume said with a chuckle before the group was interrupted by a large figure in an equally large battlesuit stomping on inside of the gleaming, warmly coloured facility and pulled up a chair besides the bar. Significantly larger than a human at over three meters tall, the suit almost looked like a pill that decided to grow limbs, and the dome like head was capable of swiveling around to let the user see through a rounded visor. Water could be heard from inside, starting to raise Wolfgang's suspicions before the armoured and opaque parts of the helmet withdrew and removed all doubt. A dolphin, bottlenose to be exact.

"'_Ey luv, mind passing me some of your stronger stuff?_" The Dolphin said, snapping his jaws tightly.

"_Certainly. How went your mission comrade Massani?_" The synthetic drink server said, the blue, red, and gunmetal grey synth; seeming to be almost something of a gunmetal skeleton plated with grey, blue, and red coverings regarding the Dolphin with a black screen that displayed a relatively simple pixelated representation of a face, with friendly blue pixel eyes in the shape of squares and a blue line for a mouth that shaped itself as needed for the Bartender's expressive needs such as various degrees of half-moons to talk, circles to express surprise, curves to smile or frown; or the like. While the Synth definitely could use much more realistic guises, they felt that they would be more "species neutral" with a more clearly robotic form. The small crest of the machine's head lit up with a pixelated "?" and the sharp, finger length antennae on the sides of their head swiveled slightly to indicate curiosity.

"_Eh you know Valiant Kelly. Went into a bunch of Batarians and mercs from all over the Terminus who rather fancied their shiny x-ray lasers and ion cannons in that flak bunker three klicks northeast carving up the lads. Must have never occured to them that using that river they had behind them for cover just looks like an easy way to sneak in for a Dolphin like me._" He said, his translator recording his voice with a gruff, aged British accent, a jagged scar going across his right eye inflicted years ago that he refused to get patched up.

"_You went in single-handedly?_" Kelly asked.

"_Nah I had a whole bloody army of Krogan stuffed down my nonexistent trousers. Of course I went in single handedly, what, you think someone like me needs all that back up?_" Massani said with a good natured laugh as Kelly passed over a glass of some strong looking drink, Zaeed's helmet retracting to let the dolphin pinch it in his suit's hands and lift it to his mouth to down.

"_That's some bloody good stuff for barracks swill._"

"_It's an Asari recipe_" Liu Han said as she looked at Kelly having another batch synthesized from the fabricator; tiberium being processed into the relatively simple chemical compounds that went into alcohol in a minute or so.

"_Eh I should visit those blue sods some day."_ He said, holding his hand out for the second glass before downing it in a hurry, letting out a click and a squeak of approval.

"_Just for the drinks?_" Liu Han said, smirking a bit.

"_Yeah I'd figure you'd want to head over there for more than that._" Wolfgang said, Zaeed giving a chuckle in response.

"_Eh humanoids aren't very good partners for a dolphin. It's going to be awkward in or out of water and we're a bit big for most of you._" He said, shaking his head and huffing some air out of his blow hole.

"_That's a shame, I was about to ask you if you'd like to share a drink._" Akifume said, a snort promptly coming from Zaeed.

"_Even if I did like humanoids I don't go for that team lad._"

"_So you're Zaeed Massani huh?_" Kat asked, looking up at the Dolphin who cast an eye over to her and gave her a nod.

"_You bloody god damn bet I am lass. If they've got mercs who cut it tougher than me I never 'eard of 'em. Anyone who says they're 'arder than I am probably doesn't know me properly either._" He said, letting out a laugh that would have sounded much less impressive had his translator not altered his pitch from a Dolphin's natural high voice to his preferred tone.

"_So you're not with the Terminus companies then huh?_" Wolfgang asked.

"_Tch, no. I used to, but I ended up getting into some disagreements. Besides, the Alliance pays pretty damn well even if you eagle loving sods are flying the hammer and sickle._" He said, forming what amounted to a smirk by dolphin standards given their limited lip movement range.

"_Why come here?_" Liu han asked, patting Vera on the back as she moved up to take a seat near Zaeed.

"_Figured you N6 types would be better conversation than most of the other rank and file bastards. Went looking around the base for drinks and I overheard you lot with your little group therapy session._" Zaeed said as he straightened himself out a bit, cracking his neck.

"_With luck, it'll be N7 soon._" Akifume said, raising a glass in cheers.

"_Hah, that'll be something won't it? Maybe one day you'll be with the department of ungentlemanly warfare and we can really share some war stories._" Zaeed said, returning the cheers gesture.

"_Heh, figure I might as well see if I can attend your little graduation ceremony myself._" He said with a chuckle as they all drank whatever was in their glasses at that moment.

* * *

_N7 Heavy Cruiser; Vertigo's fist, a week later_

Fleet Admiral Hackett; who was overseeing the war effort in the region sat in his chair as the gathered N7 hopefuls who had made the cut were speechified by the presenter, and he was absolutely sure that they were all as bored as he was. Finally, Schafhausen; whose decisions had helped rally what could have been a disastrous operation, stepped up to look at the N7 Commander, a pony tailed woman by the name of Victoria Sanders, whose auburn hair shined a bit in the glaring light of the ship. Having already given the brevet to Vera, Akifume, Katerina, and Liu Han, she had saved the best for last so to speak. She gave a stiff salute to the young man, who looked rather sharp in his dress uniform.  
_  
"Wolfgang von Schafhausen, thanks to your quick thinking, you had managed to salvage an operation that very well may have been completely lost. And for that, you are not only being presented with an N7 rank, but also the "Paladin of the Alliance" award, our highest honour. Though you may have lost men and your overseeing N7 operatives in the face of a well laid ambush and heavy fire and faced overwhelming enemy odds, you managed to prove yourself worthy of a place in the halls of honour. Wolfgang, we are all honored to have you here with us, and you do us all proud._" She said, handing him both his medal and his N7 brevets, to the applause of the room, especially from his parents who were among the most enthusiastic clappers. Even Zaeed had made good on his promise to observe and gave some small golf claps with his suit's hands.

Then Admiral Hackett took his chance to stand up and shake the hand of the new War Hero. "_Son, I know it's not easy losing comrades in the face of battle, but your service to the people and your skills have shown an uncommon degree of valour that makes be believe that you have great things ahead of you. I know it couldn't have been easy to make the choice to let Balak get away, but the intel we have gained from the prisoners of war almost certainly outweighs what one man could offer us. In addittion, you saved the lives of countless soldiers and for that, you have my utmost respect. Now, I have it on good word that the General Secretary and Chairman would like to speak with you at the White Kremlin as soon as possible._" Hackett said as Wolfgang's expression suddenly became quite bewildered.

"_A-ackerman and Chappeleen?_" He said, scarcely imagining why on earth would the head of government and the head of state of the free world would want to speak with him. But well, when you get that kind of invitation; you just don't refuse it, no matter what country you're from. "_Y-yes sir it'd be my honor._" He said, trying to regain his composure from the sudden shock. The remainder of the ceremony passed by like a blur for Wolfgang before he found himself talking to his parents after the ceremonies.

"_I'm not sure how to feel really. I won, I suppose, but I can't stop thinking about the comrades who died there because of my orders. We've all been doing our best to cope sir._" Wolfgang said with a sigh, looking at his parents who gave him sympathetic, and empathetic really looks as Hannah put a hand on his shoulder.

"_Every commander loses soldiers Wolfgang. Many of them even lose them without spending their lives well. And it's okay to let yourself be broken up about that. But we all have to move on from grief sooner or later Wolfgang. If we hold onto it, it consumes us and in the end we only lose more as we let sorrow rather than sense guide our decisions._" She said, pulling him into a hug.

"_And Wolfgang, you're still a hero no matter what, the Batarians, the high command, Epsilon, none of those can ever take that from you now. You've done us prouder than we ever thought possible._" He said, placing a hand on Wolfgang's other shoulder.

And for all that, he didn't really feel all that heroic at the moment.

* * *

_N7 Heavy Cruiser; Vertigo's fist, that night.  
_  
After finishing his at the party; a pretty hefty meal of vat grown meats, a serving of fruit sorbet, and a rather wide array of vegetables; and some last conversations with his squadmates, Wolfgang prepared to shut down for the day. After a long day that started with a furious biotic combat training session with Liu Han that he could start to feel the ache for even through his genetically and nanite enhanced musculature, he was more than ready to shut off for the day and catch some sleep. His dress uniform, at this point almost a prison with how long he's worn it for, was something he longed to get out of and into something more comfortable. The pilotka he continually adjusted to keep on his head or the peaked cap that he had to continually move to stop it from dipping over his eyes, the red trimmed blue Mandarin collared military waistcoat that was starting to feel too hot, the stiff pants and these damn dress shoes he sometimes wished that the inventors of would choke on and die. Give him some boots, hell give him some sneakers or even ask him to do without but by the mercy of every deity and spirit called on by sapient life throughout galactic history please don't make him wear these dreadful black things again.

When stripped them off down to his eagle printed boxers to take a shower he felt almost liberated and longed for the embrace of the hot water. Everyone else was rather quiet at the showers, or at least, he wasn't approached by anyone for conversation as the men and women of his section of the ship's bunks cleaned off for the day. Like Epsilon, in the Alliance virtually all children were designed to some degree by their genetic parents or the community if they're communally raised; eliminating the possibility of both disability and genetic disease and ensuring all citizens of the Alliance were as fit as was possible; with Psychic and Biotic potential also being picked for. This also tended to lead to parents choosing the tendencies of appearance for their children too, and Wolfgang was no exception to any of that. Though old age was a long dead specter, he in particular seemed to have been unaffected by time's passage since his teen years save for a change in height and some added muscle mass. Smirking a bit at those of his comrades who needed to shave, he pushed a tab on the wall to receive a silvery paste that he applied to his teeth, letting the nanites inside the paste quickly clean them off and do the job of flossing, brushing, and mouth wash all at the same time; repairing any damage to his teeth he might have accumulated to the day to ensure that he wouldn't be distracted by any dental aches in the line of duty.

Drying off under the attentions of a thermal lamp that quickly evaporated the moisture on him after he made sure his hair was under control, he took out his rest uniform and quickly threw it on, taking out his omnitool from the locker he put it in and turning it on as he made his way to his bunk and curled into bed. He had a lot to think about, a lot to ponder running through his mind at the moment. But in the mood to try and relax, he turned on his Omnitool and had it project a screen a little bit away from him as he relaxed in his bunk. He decided to check on the News broadcast, figuring he might as well get a bit informed of what was happening around the rest of the galaxy. The friendly blue glow of the "screen" projected by the tool lit up his face, earbuds being gently eased into his ear cavities as he selected one of the available news channels. Deciding to get his mind off the war for a bit, he looked through what was new in the sciences and paused when one report caught his eye.

"_This one would like to extend a delighted welcome to all those of you who have just tuned into the Primacy Public Broadcasting News Channel. This one is referred to as "One who enjoys appreciative contemplation" and is delighted to inform you of a special guest who has made some strides in the galactic Archealogical community, Liara T'Sonni. Doctor T'Sonni, this one has reached out for you as this one and its colleagues have taken interest in the theories regarding the Enkindlers that you have espoused. If you would be so kind as to illuminate us with your guidance, this one would be deeply ingratiated._" A somewhat purple Hanar said, serenely floating in the air before they turned to the direction of a young Asari maiden with rich blue skin and a fresh, eager face that seemed quite thrilled to be getting a galactic platform and a whole hour with which to use it for her theories.

"_Thank you One-Who-Enjoys-Appreciative contemplation, it is an honor to be allowed to voice my theories on Kahje before such a large audience. While I have published my findings to a number of journals, I admit I was rather surprised that the general public would be interested in the hypothesis of a relatively inexperienced archeaologist like myself._" She said, crossing her legs in her seat and looking back at where she had long gotten used to assuming was the proper place to look at a Hanar in substitute of eye-contact.

"_You are most welcome doctor. This one is awaiting your words now."_ The Hanar said, glowing briefly whenever it "spoke" in its calm, somewhat echoing voice. Wolfgang tended to find the Hanar a bit unusual, kind of hard to get a good read on. But then he supposed that the Hanar probably found most other species bizarre from their perspective.

"_Yes thank you. I have come to believe that the Protheans may have been part of a cycle of extinction that I have come to believe repeats roughly every fifty thousand years. You see, large advanced civilizations almost never collapse suddenly without some sort of external pressue. And I think we can rule out the possibility of plague. Not only is it very unlikely for a species as advanced as the Protheans to not engineer a cure, but a disease would have left far more and far more intact ruins behind. Instead what we see are smaller numbers of often badly damaged ruins that all fell victim to some force in a very short span of time._" She explained, folding her hands together and doing her best to look professional in her white outfit. Wolfgang noted that the softspoken Asari's eyes sometimes flicked around the area, as if she was trying to watch what she said about the Protheans among the Hanar.

"_This one would wish to inquire as to what evidence to your theories you have gathered. This one believes that this one's audience is unlikely to be convinced by simple logical reasoning alone._" The Hanar said, flashing blue a bit and remaining as serene as ever in the tone of their voice.

"_When I consult with my friends in the paleontology community, they have noted that in some planets that have been settled numerous times that there seems to be a mass extinction event within fifty thousand years of the settlements appearing. We can confirm this through the mass death of animal and plant life as well as shock in the sediment consistent with some form of attack. Furthermore, from what we know of the Hyksos through their Tacitus Data Matrices, many of the civilizations they record seem to disappear within this same time range._" She said, trying to illustrate the sediment layers with her hands, making a light striking motion as she spoke about the layers displaying signs consistent with mass extinction events. Though this did raise one question on Wolfgang's mind.

"_If you would not be offended by this one's curiosity, this one would wish to inquire why the Other-Enkindlers were exempt from this purported cycle and instead perished at the hands of the Dark Enkindlers?_" The Hanar asked, floating just slightly closer to Liara who leaned just slightly further back in response, bringing the leg she had crossed over back onto the ground, likely out of reasons of comfort.

"_The Hyksos it would appear, almost entirely avoided the usage of element zero based technology. Beyond that I can't really say anything concrete."_ She said, starting to get slightly nervous now that they were getting into more patchy ground as far as her body of work was concerned.

"_Could this not be the work of the Dark Enkindlers then?_" The Hanar ventured to ask.

"_From what we know of the Scrin, they do not seem to operate on a regular harvest beyond the harvesting of Tiberium infested worlds. The Scrin seemed to have targeted the Hyksos when the Hyksos began to more aggressively purge Tiberium where they could find it, resulting in the level of violence described in Hyksos records. And from what Prothean records we do know, they never encountered either Tiberium or the Scrin beyond establishing some bases on former Hyksos worlds cleansed by the Scrin_." She said, taking just a second to slightly shift her left arm back as she adjusted herself in her seat. He found himself most interested in what she had to say about the Hyksos, he knew what the Alliance had written on the subject quite well but the opinions of the other governments on humanity's own long dead givers of knowledge were of deep interest to him.

"_But we know little about either the Scrin and as you have said, little remains of the Enkindlers and their wisdom besides their gifts to us that remain. Information on those who preceded the Enkindlers is even harder to come by. You have also yet to eliminate the possibility that conventional interstellar warfare destroyed the predecessors of the Enkindlers. Furthermore, could the paucity of Enkindler relics not be due to their ascension?_" The Hanar asked, but Wolfgang wasn't quite able to process Liara's response as his exhaustion made it increasingly difficult to focus and his mind began to tune out the world around him, his eyelids becoming increasingly heavy. Having the Omnitool set to download the whole program when it had finished, he shut off the machine and removed his ear buds before letting out a long yawn.

"_Get some sleep Schafhausen, tommorow's hand to hand sparring day._" Kat said as she fluffed her pillow.

"_I could take you guys on if I were half dead. But...yeah sleep sounds good._" He said as he closed his eyes, rapidly drifting off into one of the deepest sleeps he's had in a while.

* * *

Far away

An ancient intelligence observed the news being played with solemnity. This was taking strange and unusual courses. A mind hundreds of millions of years old had seen something new. "But not truly of their making. The hands of the other are at work." It mused to itself, the consciousness of tens of millions of minds melded into a single being. To it, the overwhelming majority of all life to have ever evolved in this galaxy were as little more than mayflies. Passing motes in the weave of histories that spanned for millions of years. But the others were strange, the others were old even by their standards, with even the long dead makers not remembering a time before the others who sowed the seeds of poison with which to harvest. Even its kind paid these ancients a wide berth and a grudging respect, having been burned several times when they tried to subject them to the same manner of harvest they would other species.

It reached its mind out to the most dominant intelligence of its kin. "_The circumstances are changing at an unacceptable rate. We must alter our paradigms. Our efforts at ensuring that none of the seeds of the others reach those who are connected to our work have failed. If we act now, we may contain this divergence before our operations become threatened._" It beseeched this intellect, but a child's voice constructed long before even it had become what it was now then chastised it from across the galaxy.

"_The cycle must continue as we have planned it. This alteration will be to our benefit when the time comes, but they have not shown us that the cycle must be changed yet. You will wait until the previously designated time of action. This will not be altered. If you worry so much, then I will allow you to bring no more than nine others of your kin; two greater, two lesser._" It said, to the ancient being's palpable annoyance. It had frequently chafed under the hand of this ancient intelligence, but there was currently nothing it could do.

* * *

**Alliance-Hegemony war continues to rage!**

"The war between the Alliance and Hegemony, one of the first full scale wars between major peer powers in decades, has continued to rage as the long building tensions between the two powers finally boiled over into war. Both Kar'shan and Midgard have vowed to fight this war to the destruction of the opposing state and attempts at mediating the conflict have failed. After an initial six month period of advances in one of its two prongs for its "pivot to midgard" strategy, the Batarian Hegemony was halted in a disastrous space battle at Tor'bophar that had not only devastated the Hegemonic fleet but has wiped out numerous pirate gangs and smaller mercenary outfits in their totality while its second prong was attacked by the Allies before they were ready to maneuver, and the Allies' own moves to the Hegemony capital are progressing a pace. However, those who believe in an easy victory are cautioned that the Hegemony is a vast polity with a great deal of resources and is likely to call upon whatever assets it can to defend itself."

**Jack Harper makes unusual statement**

"In response to queries about what famous business tycoon Jack Harper thinks of the present conflict, the notably pro-human but simultaneously arch-capitalist Terminus tycoon simply said "I think I"ll go make an omelette" and cut off any further inquiries into the topic there to do exactly as he said; go and make an Omelette, leaving the wider galaxy without answers and already starting a widespread extranet meme as people quote Harper's statement either verbatim or making their own twist on it. Showing that while a off-colour statement can be over and done with in a few seconds, the Extranet really is forever."

**Epsilon Dominion troop movements on the rise**

"In response to the recent outbreak of war between the Hegemony and the Alliance, the Dominion has begun to move a massive number of soldiers from its enormous military in a move that is said to be "Simply a guarantee of safety for the people of the Dominion" by the enigmatic Yuri. Pundits who have long speculated on what the outcome and effects of a war between the Hegemony and the Alliance would be have also now started to wonder where Epsilon will place its bets. While the Dominion does engage in trade with the Hegemony and is a long time rival of the Alliance from the two's formations, the Dominion's own desires for influence within the Terminus systems have frequently clashed with the Hegemony's desire to maintain its powerful position within the Terminus region."

**Confederates declare WAR!**

"The Forgotten Mutant confederacy has voted for war against the Batarian Hegemony citing "decades of grief and suffering brought about by raiders, slavers, mercenaries, gangsters, and pirates operating with Khar'shan's money that must be repaid with interest against the Batarians and their lackeys who would have sought to break us." Some claim that the Confederacy's declaration of war is simply opportunistic, believing that the Confederacy is simply joining with the Alliance because they believe that the war against the Hegemony will result in a quick victory that will offer gains to the Confederacy."

**Anti-Hegemony sentiment in the Hierarchy is on the rise**

"Many Turians and other client species have taken to the streets on various worlds across the Hierarchy today stating that the time is now to "punish the Hegemony for centuries of slaving while we sat by and did nothing but throw embargoes at them!" Others also add that "acting now will see billions of slaves languishing in Batarian chains free before the end of this decade". Currently, the Hierarchy maintains a stance of pro-alliance neutrality, offering economic and indirect military support such as advisors, supplies and weapons, attaches, and volunteer regiments. However, this can always change given the right shift in Palaven's political winds."

* * *

Codex Entries

**Weapons technology: Kinetic Burst**

Developed by the Pacific Front of the Allied Nations under the lead of the Empire of the Rising Sun, Kinetic Burst weaponry is known for two things; huge velocities and a literally burning after-effect. Using rapidly expanding plasma to propel rounds at tremendous speeds, Kinetic Burst weapons were initially conceived of as a way to greatly increase rate of fire. It was then found that thanks to no longer needing a case, substantial weight and space savings could be made as well; while the plasma proved superior to conventional chemical propellants at attaining high velocities. It was also found that it was possible to have a polymer shell around a bullet be part of the formation of the plasma, further increasing speed and wreathing the bullet in a shell of plasma; giving the distinctive blue tracer effect as well as giving rise to the incendiary abilities of Kinetic burst weapons.

Following the Earth-native discovery of the mass effect, Kinetic-Burst weapons were often married to more conventional mass accelerators to combine the effects of both weapons, leading to extremely high velocity munitions with a powerful after-burn. While incompatible with freezing munitions for obvious reasons, these Kinetic Burst Mass Accelerators (KBMA) are popular among troops with short deployments, where the increased complexity of these weapons comes into play less and their benefits can come to shine. To compensate for not being able to accept freezing munitions mods, the Alliance hands out specialized freezing munitions such as grenades, temperature reductor beams, or supercooled ice-water/liquid nitrogem sprayers.

**Military organizations: Alliance N7 Special force operator Bureau**

The inheritors of numerous prior special forces outfits such as the Combined American-Canadian SEALs, the Western European Alliance Unified Special Air Services, The Warsaw Pact's Spetsnaz, the Pacific Front's Unified Super Sentai Force, the Socialist Pacific League's Special Operation Force, and the Latin Confederation's Revolutionary Unconventional Mission Task force; which themselves were conglomerated from numerous smaller special forces, N7 represent's the Alliance's top level of special force units. Training is difficult and consists of several N-grades, also known as proficiency levels. Due to the Alliance's continued expectations of war with opponents with substantial manpower advantages, recruitment is allowed to start as young as age sixteen or the equivalent age for other species. Traditionally; only students with prior experiences in cadet programs or military schools volunteer at this age. Despite popular belief, entry into the N7 is not on an invitation only basis, a confusion that has arisen out of a common mixing up of the Department of Ungentlemanly warfare, which is an invite only organization with the N7 Bureau.

Recruits in addition to standard physical and mental training also receive a number of enhancements to ensure that each soldier is in the prime of their condition. While certainly not brought to the extremes of alteration that can be seen in forces such as Epsilon, the Confederacy, many private military forces; these enhancements are of the best quality that can be offered by the Alliance and range from nanite injections to genetic splicing. In essence, N7 is comprised of posthuman (or dolphin or octopus) warriors. Little stigma is attached to failing the training course, as the demands placed are heavy by any standards and even so much as an N1 certification is a badge of much respect.

Training consists of zero-gravity experience, combat drop operations, chronospheric insertions, stealth, standard combat training covering ranged and close combat experiences, and at least basic familiarity with tasks such as operating vehicles and combat engineering as well as counter-psychic and biotic tactics. Education is not only administered in a standard manner, but also by direct cerebral information upload so as to speed up the process. At the final degree of training, N6, recruits are tested in actual combat scenarios under the designation of "VDV"; and if their performance is deemed worthy, are finally granted the coveted N7 designation.

N7 maintains it's own chain of command separate from the Alliance Unified Army, the People's Navy, the Alliance Centralized Bureau of Intelligence's Department of Ungentlemanly warfare, the Alliance Experimental Science Division, and the Alliance Peacekeeper Corps. In cases of clashes of command and rank, typically commands will be deferred to the commander with the most seniority and demonstrated competence in the relevant situation, as well as consultation with the units' assorted councils who voice their own opinions and concerns regarding operations. Commanders try to at least listen to each other and move in support of one another.

N7 maintains its own ships and its own motor pool, designed to facilitate special forces operations while the Navy engages in line combat, the Army lands troops, the Peacekeepers maneuver to act in shock actions, the Department generally engages in "espionage in force", and the Science Division is largely regarded as a support or hail mary oriented force. Relations with the other branches of the Alliance military are generally cordial, and while interservice rivalry exists; it is generally kept to the arena of inter-service competitions such as sporting events.

**Politicians: Howard T. Ackerman.**

A firebrand from the Alliance's Democratic Communist party, Ackerman is a diehard believer in all the most stereotypical ideals of the Alliance. Democracy and Socialism will work together to free all beings, and one cannot truly have one without the other. Born to farmer parents on the planet of new Idaho who had strong internationalist beliefs, Ackerman quickly came to dominate school politics, being the seemingly perpetual leader of the youth wing of the Democratic Communist party in every school he attended before taking up a job as an editor at a newsfeed with a strong passion for the superhero genre and a noted interest in spiders as well as the Robot Storm. When he entered the wider political scene, he proved to be a man of extremely strong opinions with little patience for jargon or obfuscation. While generally pro-Citadel in his beliefs, he was far from unwilling to criticize what he saw as unfair citadel policies and frequently made digs at the more capitalist and less democratic portions of C-space society.

A man with a burning loathing for most of the polities of the Terminus systems; the Batarian Hegemony in particular, Ackerman is generally regarded as a Hawk politician. And unlike many other hawks, who tend not to be veterans of serious engagements themselves, Ackerman fought on Hellenia against Epsilon and served against numerous Terminus system raids and skirmishes with the Hegemony and the Dominion. He favors peace whenever possible, having strong opinions about what makes a war worth fighting, but if he believes that conflict will be the only solution, it is staggeringly difficult to make him shift course. On the Hegemony in Particular, he is a passionate arguer that peaceful solutions to the Hegemony have failed for centuries and will only continue to fail and that the only course left to safeguard against their threat to equality and freedom is to put paid to the Hegemony once and for all.

He also reserved essentially unlimited scorn for the Unitary Epsilon Dominion; deriding them as a huge cult disguising themselves as a country, claiming their Corporatist-Technocratic system was little more than a rebirth of the worst policies of the 20th century; including Stalinism and Fascism and was also simply a friendlier face put onto the system put in place during the period between the firing of the Mental Omega device and the onset of the first generations who knew nothing save for Yuri's rule. He has been known to call Yuri "Nothing more than a chickenshit bald weirdo with a basement cult around himself, his brainwashed daughter, and his gullible friends who somehow went and found a whole country for himself, and one whose time is going to come rushing towards them real soon." Among other less than print-worthy remarks.

Eventually coming to dominate the Democratic Communist party, Ackerman lead them to a successful majority government, defeating numerous competitors and coalitions of competitors to attain more than a two thirds majority in the houses of the Central Executive Council in the 2465 elections, and has continued to enjoy electoral success. Regarded as essentially the face of Alliance politics, Ackerman is known as being an extremely blunt man in person who disdains hiding what he thinks behind political terminology. He frequently uses profanity, prefers to use common words to explain difficult concepts, and has personally insulted numerous people he found disagreeable, ranging from heads of state or government to dignitaries to reporters.

**Synthetics: Non-Sapient: Alliance: Combat: Terror Drones**

The first terror drones were developed by the Soviet Union in the interim between the second and third world wars at the behest of the Soviet Stavka to provide for a cheap and highly effective anti-tank combat platform, recognizing that one of the key weaknesses of the Red army during the second world war was a lack of low cost anti-tank systems. Developed alongside the Tesla Trooper which was prepared for much the same purpose, the Terror Drone would first see combat in the third world war where the extremely fast and extremely deadly machines proved to be a terror to infantry and vehicles alike. Rather than carry a large weapon that would have limited ammo and/or take up significant amounts of weight, Terror Drones would instead rely on a number of cutting tools including extremely sharp blades that can be deployed from their legs to cut their way inside of a vehicle and rip it apart from the inside. To the horror of many Allied and later Epsilon tank crews, these first generation terror drones were strong enough to actually lift up the turret of a standard main battle tank and then squeeze inside the vehicle where the unfortunate crew would have virtually zero chances of survival. Only dedicated repair systems such as could be found on repair cranes or by engineer manned multigunner systems could be expected to save an afflicted vehicle, and against infantry the Terror Drone was a superb weapon against enemies lacking heavier rapid fire weapons such as heavy machine guns, going from target to target with lethal precision and accuracy.

Against Yuri's forces, the Terror Drone proved to be of even greater value as its robotic nature rendered it immune to mind control; and Stavka commissioned ever greater numbers of similarly built drones of various sizes based on the success of the Terror Drone, even promoting its image in Children's media and having disarmed civilian models serve after the war in working roles and even as pets. In the fourth world war, a number of improvements to the Terror Drone had been made, including the ability to project an electrostasis ray to immobilize target and the capacity to swim at high speeds and target ships. While they were not able to prevent Soviet and Allied defeat on the planet Earth, they continued to reaffirm their worth in combat against Yuri's forces and their sensors were of great value in peering through Epsilon Psychic Illusion devices and countering ambushes by hidden Epsilon forces. In the following interplanetary wars, the Terror Drones would continue to serve in increasingly greater numbers and with increasing sophistication; and even when two thirds of the machines fell under the thrall of the rogue A.I NEXUS in the Robot Storm, they continued to crawl out of fabrication facilities across the Alliance, and it was found that they were just as effective at tearing open NEXUS' robotic vehicles and later the Scrin's Tiberium based war machine as they were against any human opponent.

They remained a common sight in Alliance military forces following the Exodus into the aptly named Exodus cluster and expansion into the surrounding regions of space, and by the time of citadel contact the Terror drone was seen as an integral and unremovable aspect of the Alliance war machine; by now incorporating a number of features that had once been the purview of more specialist drones as miniaturization technology improved. Terror Drones often find use in Alliance counter-terrorism and patrol operations due to their more expendable natures and heavy sensor loadouts making them a more than sufficient replacement for the dogs who used to serve as scouts and counter-infiltration units within human militaries. It is rare to see an area under protection by Alliance forces without at least a handful of terror drones, and despite their name they are usually considered loyal and valuable partners in the Alliance's military culture; frequently being given names and being treated like pets by military personnel with reports of emotional distress from Alliance troops when a favoured terror drone is lost on the field of battle.

Those on the receiving end of them however, give them a rather different reputation; with many enemies of the Alliance having a tremendous deal of paranoia regarding them after the reveal that Alliance intelligence forces often sneak in terror drones into enemy military vehicles under construction by either meddling with production plans or physically inserting one inside of a vehicle; letting it lie dormant until an awakening signal is given at which point the terror drone seeks to immediately tear the vehicle it finds itself in apart. While dangerous enough for tanks, this is a death sentence for aircraft and can wreak havoc among many enemy ships and has been effective in demoralizing pirate forces that operate against Alliance interests. Similarly, many are snuck into military grade production facilities as a means of sabotage, where the of the machines will, upon activation; immediately concoct plans to cause as much damage and disruption as possible until they are either destroyed or there is nothing left in the facility for them to tear apart, where they will then try to find other military production centers or troops to attack.

**Synthetics: Sapient: Alliance: General Purpose: Valiants **

"Valiant" is a catchall term for sapient synthetics used by the Alliance, generally made to have frames that are comfortable for humans to interact with. The first Valiants were made in the aftermath of the robot storm where the bitter war with the rogue A.I had embittered many to the idea of entrusting synthetics any further. However, Alliance scientists and many assemblies argued successfully that the reason for NEXUS' rebellion was that it was ultimately designed to be too "hard", lacking much in the way of altruism beyond a desire to create peace and improve the happiness of organic life by any means. The Valiants, named because they would be given a "sort of noble valiance to them" would be entrusted with a comprehensive set of ethics and selfless altruism to themselves, to see themselves as companions to organic life rather than as managers or overlords. This is reflected most thoroughly in their oft repeated creed "so that others may live", and so far it seems that the Valiants have largely held to this expectation of nobility, with no major acts of synthetic rebellion since the Robot Storm having occured.

Valiants are an integral part of Alliance society, and indeed actually make up its single largest demographic; outnumbering even humans by a factor of about two. Though Valiants have differing personalities, they are noted for a great form of selflessness and a general lack of ambition as far as acquiring more powers for themselves are concerned. They exercise power primarily through their ability as citizens to cast votes in Alliance assemblies, and while they are naturally more proficient at organizing their voting than organics ever could be, they do not hold any special rights nor are they given any second class statuses regarding their citizenship. Indeed the presence of Valiants in Alliance society is so normalized that most of its citizens simply treat them as they would any other citizen of the alliance, inviting them to parties, socializing with them, befriending them, and in more than a few cases even forming romantic attachments to them. This ability to form such social bonds was purposefully designed with the hopes that it would make them more understanding of organics and vice versa, and compared to many other forms of known Synthetics, Valiants are exceedingly human in their temperment and their view of the world even with the computational and informational advantages afforded by a synthetic nature.

Valiants are especially valued due to their immunity to most forms of Epsilon telepathy, which has inspired the Dominion to relentlessly pursue the advancement of technopathy to try and mitigate their longstanding weakness against inorganic opponents. This has made them frequently utilized as diplomats and agents sent to the dominion, as the risk of them being turned is negligible compared to the risks organic officials might be faced with even with specialized training. Valiants also tend to be the first colonists sent to new worlds due to their resilience to nearly all forms of environmental conditions, and in case of hazardous but transformable conditions; will be the primary labor force for terraforming efforts, directing their nonsapient counterparts to do the necessary work, and due to their robotic nature they are main demographics in Alliance ZOCOM forces meant to manage and contain Tiberium, and frequently work in Alliance aid missions to the forgotten and were heavily deployed against the Scrin in the third interplanetary war. Valiants are also frequently seen as commanders, soldiers, aides, scientists, engineers, and other forms of professionals and many have also become renown artists and entertainers and even philosophers.

Upon contact with the Citadel, Citadel officials initially made demands to dismantle or shackle the valiant population of the Alliance, only to be met with almost immediate resistance and accusations of desiring genocide and proved to be one of the main obstacles that has so far kept the Alliance from formally joining the Citadel's governments. Though initially a source of significant mistrust and tension, the perceived greater threat of the dominion and its efforts to re-arm the Krogan and Quarians, circumvention of sanctions with the Batarian Hegemony, and attempts expand its sphere of influence in the Terminus systems and Attican traverse have largely tabled the issue. Valiants generally face restrictions and monitoring in citadel space, and continue to be a source of friction with the Citadel; even if tensions have been relaxed somewhat in recent years. For their part, the Valiants generally feel that the distrust of synthetics in C-Space is understandable due to the examples set by the Morning War and the Robot Storm, but feel it is unfair to paint them with the same brush and have launched campaigns to try and improve understanding between C-Space and Alliance cultures.

**Synthetics: Debatably Sapient: Alliance: Management: EVA **

An acronym for "Electronic Video Assistant", EVAs were some of the first created by humanity; named in honor of Allied officer Eva Lee and originally designed for the military to further improve the command and control abilities of its officers. Though televisual command and control capabilities were first offered in the second world war that allowed commanders a wide field of view of the battlefield and the ability to see what their soldiers saw to some degree and offer more personalized and effective orders; further improved in the following wars, intelligence reports and analysis were still offered by human officers. With the first Alliance Exodus to Mars following Allied and Soviet defeat in the fourth world war, there was a need to restructure the military and free up skilled manpower for other tasks, resulting in a heavy push to automate much of the process. This resulted in the EVA units, who could replace the role of much of the aides of a commander, handle logistics, improve coordination of unmanned systems and military formations, advise commanding officers and soldiers on the ground, relay objectives, decrypt transmissions, allow for swift communications, and quickly process any votes done in military assemblies. This increased the automation of warfare dramatically and was soon copied by the Dominion in the first interplanetary war and eventually developed into their CABAL units.

NEXUS itself was developed to be a sort of super EVA unit who could not only coordinate the entire network but also manage an independently assigned "robotic warfare unit" in cooperation with the standard military. While EVAs are entirely emotionless, devoid of personality, and have strictly limited initiative of their own unless ordered otherwise, NEXUS was augmented by brain patterning in the hopes of providing for a more able commander. However, the Alliance misjudged how the personalities would integrate with one another and whether they would remain stable when entrusted with so much power and NEXUS turned rogue part way through the war. Fortunately, due to the more decentralized nature of the EVA network, most EVA units remained loyal to the Alliance, the Dominion, and the Forgotten and were instrumental in helping coordinate the war effort to defeat the renegade A.I. EVA units have continued to be developed since then, with the Alliance keenly remembering what went wrong with NEXUS and vowing to not repeat the same mistakes and EVAs have long since been expanded to encompass the civilian sphere; working along with other nonsapient machinery to eliminate the need for vast amounts of labor.

Just as MCV Fabricator technology ultimately ended up wiping out virtually all manufacturing jobs, EVAs wiped out most service industry and management jobs, leaving only the Arts, Military, Politics, Sports, Journalism, Philosophies, and the Sciences in need of organic labor. And even in fields such as the arts, an EVA unit can; with guidance or a neural uplink; do much of the work in drawing, modeling, animation, programming, and other forms of visual arts and allow an individual to create and dictate the ideas while the EVA does the work. Similarly, in the sciences, EVAs have made the tasks of data gathering, compiling, processing, comparison, and analysis vastly easier than they ever were before. In a large way, EVAs have made the nature of Alliance society where most forms of labor are optional possible. Even trading is by and large, done by EVAs with citizen oversight and the machines have eliminated the vast majority of bureaucratic jobs at all levels of society and have made the processing of red tape largely painless.

EVA units, by Citadel law; are in something of a grey area between a very sophisticated if low initiative V.I and a highly shackled A.I. Due to their lack of personalities, limited ability to act on their own initiative without direct orders, and strong measures taken in place to prevent them from taking harmful action, EVAs are not considered citizens by the alliance and their sapience is a matter of significant debate that is no closer to being resolved now than it was centuries ago. EVAs are generally considered legal throughout C-Space and have begun to be sold and utilized within its boundaries; particularly by the six council races. CABALs serve much the same purpose within the dominion, Hypatia units are manufactured by companies suspected of ties to the Phantom Syndicate, and the forgotten have dubbed theirs Tratos in honor of one of their most famous thinkers. Names for citadel space EVAs vary, and C-Space EVAs are considered to be somewhat behind their Alliance counterparts due to a lack of Valiants working on the development of improvement to EVA software and hardware. Still, they have been behind a major economic boom and a great rethink in the usage of labor alongside the spread of new manufacturing technology and no serious military or police force does without them. Visitors to the citadel have recorded a large increase in the satisfaction with Citadel space since the spread of the technology; and military units have seen greatly increased efficiency and coordination. The curbing of the need for a great many jobs has lead to enormous shifts in the labor market and the rise of labourist and social democrat parties intending to ease the transition towards a labor optional society.

**Non-Council Species: Hyksos: **

Generally agreed to be extinct, the Hyksos; alternatively referred to as the Masari; are believed to have once ruled a vast empire before even the Protheans, with radiological dating of their relics generally suggesting their cvilization to have existed more than a hundred thousand years ago. The Hyksos did not use mass effect technology to any degree as far as can be determined, instead utilizing alternative means of accelerating to faster than light speeds to create a "peaceable federation" that some evidence even suggests may have extended to other galaxies. Morphological studies suggest that the Hyksos had a remarkable morphological similarity to humans, albeit taller, slimmer, and tending towards more exotic colourations with many references to "slender ears like knives" and "eyes that glowed with psychic flame". However the Hyksos would come into conflict with a society known as the Scrin when meteors carrying the material Tiberium began to land on their worlds. At first welcoming them as "Brothers" according to data found in their records known as "Tacituses", they quickly came to regard them as enemies and waged an ultimately doomed war with them that saw most of them exterminated and greatly degraded the habitability of their homeworld.

While their final records indicate that some escaped on their last city ships, the lack of living Hyksos has suggested that they have since all perished. Many have suggested that some of the last living Hyksos had contact with early humanity and influenced a number of legends. What is undoubtable though, is that the Hyksos had placed some colonies on the Earth, as has been uncovered through Archeaological expeditions, and that they had collected at least one Tacitus on the planet (albeit initially divided into two pieces) to warn whatever civilization would eventually develop on earth of the dangers of their opponents as well as provide a wealth of insight into the technology they once had. By international agreement at the congress of Illium all Hyksos relics are to be treated under the same provisions that govern the handling of Prothean relics.

* * *

AN: I'm so very, very sorry that this took so long. I just felt so drained on the whole concept that I couldn't put any ideas to paper for the longest time. But the muse has reclaimed me once more and so I return to this project; hopefully not to disappear for another nine months making no updates. I'll try my best to work faster but I can't really make any promises. People offering to beta read for me would be of a *_**huge**_* help though.

And yes, that is the Catalyst yanking Sovereign's leash and yes that is Ackerman in the 2300s. (And yes, Cherdenko will eventually make an appearance; SPAYCE)

The next chapter will focus back on the Epsilon side of things as we see what kind of woman Catalina has grown into and get a better look at both C-space and Epsilon.

You may also notice that sometimes I will create minor species out of whole cloth when I have a character design in mind but find none of the extant species satisfying. Some polities, generally minor C-Space members, Turian Client States, or out of the way Terminus Systems polities will also be created from whole cloth on occasion to fill in some gaps between the space filling empires.

If I ever do get it in my mind to write something that would drive this above the T-rating, I'll always split it off into a one shot; generally to fill in blanks left by fade to black or very vaguely described scenes.


	6. Chaotic Impulse

"_Mind over matter._"

\- Motto of the Unitary Epsilon Dominion

"_The Dominion represents a revolution in the governing of nations. Freed from the old and obsolete notions of class that the Communists and Capitalists cling to, and liberated from the questions of representative or direct democracy, we have created a state where all nations are at peace under one banner; my banner. This is not just a state for Humans, Cephalopods, Cetaceans, the Forgotten, Uplifteds, Synthetics, Quarians, or Krogans. This is a nation for all nations, where all may find solace in togetherness. We have the best of every part of the spectrum of philosophy and religion in this experiment in statescraft and faith, and together we work towards a Utopia of physical and mental transcendence, not simply a world where all are equal and free or all are successful and glamorous, but a world where all have become better than they ever were before. That is why we are strong. Because we rise above the merely mundane and ascend for the divine._"

\- Yuri in his "Strength of the Dominion" speech.

* * *

Tepes station, in orbit around the habitable moon Vlad of the Rumania gas giants; Nagash system; 7th of March 2483

Catalina's peaceful rest was interrupted by the blaring of an alarm, making the woman reach out for the alarm clock as she tried to keep her eyes shut, fumbling around for the clock until she found it in her blind groping, feeling it up for a bit, patting it thrice, and then balling her hand into a fist and slamming it down onto the source of annoyance to halt it's incessant and infernal noise making. She rose up and groaned as she stretched and walked out of her bed. She shuffled over to a counter to get a cup of coffee, mixing in copious amounts of brown sugar into it as she shuffled over to her living room, grabbing some baguettes, cheeses, a can of lychees, and cold yoghurt, sitting her purple pajama clad self down in a chair as she turned on her holoscreen.

"_Our glorious leader's most beneficent progeny Libra, leader of the most hallowed Psicorps has awarded the Sigmasarin corporation for making yet more advances in its ongoing research to advance the burgeoning psychic field of technopathy, promising a tremendous edge against the foes of our dominion and massive potential advancements in the civilian sector's living conditions. Imagine a life where all your appliances respond to your thoughts and-_" Catalina scowled and flipped the channel to something else as she quaffed down a slice of baguette she had put in some camembert cheese into. As always, anything made in for the government and the favored corporations trickled into wider society a bit late. She was already aware of Epsilon's advancements into technopathy.

"_The joint colony world of Eden Prime, settled in as a joint project by all of humanity; including the Epsilon Dominion, the Alliance, the Confederacy, and numerous private interests generally based in the Terminus Systems, continues to grow."_ A Quarian Anchorwoman proudly wearing the emblem of Epsilon on her breastplate said. Many Quarians had taken to settling within the Dominion, which welcomed them with open arms while Headquarters was all too eager to begin work on their genome. Given that she freely went barefaced, the purple haired alien had probably grown her whole life in the care of the Dominion and had a gene structure migrant born Quarians would envy, Catalina surmised. Behind her was the image of Eden Prime, a world showing some contained growths of Tiberium green pockmarking it's otherwise lush surface.

"_Äs always, the Dominion's sections of the planets show the most growth, with Elcor dignitary Urrok Kolbrean describing the Epsilon settlements as so:_" The Quarian said before the broadcast cut to an Elcor saying_ "Impressed: Dominion settlements continue to grow at an extremely impressive rate. In Admiration: These settlements have surpassed every expectation._" before the cut returned to the Quarian.

She flipped the channel again to some show with less than print-worthy contents, watching them with rather more intently focused eyes than she had afforded the news. After whiling away about a half hour and finishing her breakfast up, she made her way to her bathroom and quickly began the process of cleaning herself up for the day. First her teeth and mouth were dealt with before she stripped off and dumped her pajamas in a container, which folded back into the wall to process her laundry as she showered off. Once she felt clean, she emerged from the stall and fixed up her hair, tying her silver locks into her distinctive tall pony tail that reached down to the midsection of her back and side tassels.

Catalina had definitely grown into the striking woman her parents had wanted her to be when they selected her traits; she was well toned with a gymnast's figure and a girlish face with piercing red eyes, which left little room for a large bust; but she herself never particularly felt bothered by it. At 6'3 however, she was definitely one of the taller women in any room which did in fact, grab the attention of many people immediately, and her steely, densely packed muscled made up much of her 193 lb weight. Once properly ready for the day, she said "Dry off" and was blasted with quick streams of heated air to remove the remaining moisture on her, with any stragglers being telekinetically forced off.

She grabbed her clothes and put herself into the dress uniform of her occupation; a sharp military style uniform. Whereas the Alliance had done away with such affecations, the Dominion's officer's dress uniforms proudly displayed epaulettes, purple threads dangling from the shoulders of her brown, purple, and black outfit. Her outfit bore an uncanny resemblance to that worn by Yuri's ancestral homeland; Romania and her office corps in the 1940s, but with a number of touches done to modernize them. Gloves were a standard part of the uniform for one; scientist styled gloves that went over and encapsulated the sleeves rather than slipped beneath them, in addition to the epaulletes. But she wasn't placing on the uniform of Epsilon's military. She fitted on her peaked cap that made her allegiances quite clear; the bat-winged and fanged skull of Epsilon's feared Inquisition lay proudly in the front of her cap.

After her orphaning on Dracul, she was adopted into the Inquisition's cadet program on the recommendation of her surviving family members, and they had moulded her into a model citizen. Now an Interrogator; a lieutenant in an Inquisitor's retinue, the bright eyed girl seemed to be on the fast track for greatness. Young for her duties, it was perhaps a bit of nepotism that she got where she was, the inquisitor she was attached to doted on her like a surrogate daughter, and inquisitors were given great leeway with regards to the ranks of those in their employ. For her part, David Anderson was a fair man who had done much to help her deal with the difficult circumstances that she had undergone earlier as a child. Putting on her bottom, stockings, pants, and boots and threading in her belt on last as a manner of habit, she made her way out of her apartment and stepped into the office portions of the building she resided in. Some of her fellow believers preferred to live in their own private houses, but she preferred to be able to just get to work the instant she was ready.

Saluting some initiates at guard with Epsilon's extended open hand salute, which they returned instantly, she spoke up. "_Slept well brethren?_" She said to the Initiates, who both stood of utterly identical height and whose expressions were impossible to determine behind their armored masks/helmets, still designed on the principles of the facemasks in the third and fourth world wars. She knew that they were vat-grown clones; but whereas clones were frequently seen as less worthy people by many in the Citadel and Terminus space and battlefield grown clones were used to rapidly bulk up armies; she never saw them as anything less than fellow believers. As someone whose genetic code was artificially selected it'd have been hypocritical at best to decry them as unnatural.

"_Of course lady Cioban. I have rested well under the watch of our great Dominion. Please do try to have a pleasant day._" The initiate to the left said, nodding graciously at her.

"_Thank you Johan; have anything to say yourself Jacob?_" She said, turning towards the other who gave her a nod.

"_Only to also wish you a good day. Being an interrogator must be difficult no doubt._" Jacob said, holding his rifle at attention.

"_It is a bit, but I've had no complaints_." She said with a smile in response, tipping her cap towards them as she submitted herself to another security check and walked on past them, her retinas, handprint, the way she walked, her genetic contents of her Saliva, and her pyschic profile all being checked out before she entered the offices proper. She made her way through the assorted work desks and stepped into a briefing room after receiving a telepathic communique requesting her presence in Briefing room 3B.

Opening the door, she found the room surprisingly empty, not finding any of her other retinue mates in the room, but then she looked towards David standing at attention. "Ah, welcome Cioban, have any seat you wish." He said, with her eyes being drawn to another Inquisitor; Igor Kubicek, standing beside him. Igor was a broad shouldered, square jawed rectangular man with a rather impressive looking black handlebar moustache who stood a full head taller than David did, the gruff Slavic man folding his hands behind his back as he noted her arrival with a nod.

She smiled at David before turning to Igor and briefly pausing before giving him a widening grin, which the Inquisitor was all too keen to return. "_Ah, my little Caty, how are you?"_ He said as the two moved in for a hug, Catalina fondly embracing one of her closest mentors in her childhood.

"_I'm doing just fine; thank you for asking. What brings you here?_" She said as she broke away from the hug and found a place to sit down, placing her hands at her desk as Igor stepped back to Anderson's side, his moustache rippling as he brushed it over with a quick application of telekinesis.

"_I am here to evaluate you Catalina. You have had the eyes of the Inquisition on you for a long time, and me and Anderson have come to believe that it is time to test you for a place in the ranks of the Inquisitors. You've done remarkably well in your time as an interrogator, and we wish to see if you can take the reins of responsibility._" He said, looking across the room and nodding.

"_Cioban, I know this is much to ask for someone who has only recently left the Schola, but I believe that you have what it takes to handle the task set before you._" David said, taking a single step forward before continuing.

"_Catalina, are you ready to receive your assignment? I know you'll do me proud._" He said, the dark skinned man giving her a nod and a fatherly smile.

Catalina took a few moments to regain her composure, blinking a few times and then pinching herself to make absolutely sure that this was something real and not a particularly vivid dream. She quickly gives up on that particular endeavour however, as she decided either this was the most convincing dream of all time and it was best to just roll along with it, or that this was real and she better stop giving her best impression of a particularly surprised goldfish.

She sucked in some air and then said "_Yes, of course...what is my mission Inquisitors?_" She said, straightening her composure and trying to put on her best poker face, if this really was happening, she needed to put on the best possible impression.

"_We've got a crime ring on Sylvania with confirmed foreign ties. We can't tell who's supplying them, but they've been stealing state secrets and sabotaging production. As an Inquisitor under evaluation, it is up to you to build a team and carry the investigation. We'll be with you to ensure your safety and provide reinforcement as needed, but this is your case Cioban._" Anderson said, focusing his brown eyes squarely on Catalina's dark reds.

"_Of course...I'll get right on it_." She said, puffing out her chest to try and seem more confident than she actually was.

"_Good, inform us of when you are ready to select your team, you are dismissed._" Igor said.

"_Sir, yes sir!_" Catalina responded, giving him a well drilled salute.

* * *

Later that day

Catalina busily poured over the data put in front of her, blearily rubbing her eyes as she went through endless personnel files. She had settled on a handful of operatives. Jean-Luc Robespierre, Brazag "Breakface" Urzon, Joachim Igorovich, Jasmine Al-Fakir, and Squalork Ykandina and would go through one last review.

Robespierre was a specialist in Technopathy; one of the first actually. Give him a terminal to operate and he'd be working to break it's secrets before you could say "go". Fond of tinkering with software, she'd think that the redhead would be a huge asset, though she internally despaired at the note in his files that listed him as an incorrigible womanizer. "_As long as he stays clear of me when we're off duty."_ She sighed. He also had taken up hardware engineering and could be counted on to help with any hardware issues she had.

She flicked over to Joachim and nodded in approval of his portrait pictures. "_Cute._" she said, as she scanned over the youthful looking black haired schola graduate. The hair was messy to degrees she wasn't sure were regulation standard to be sure but the pale skinned blue eyed kid was noted as loyal to his friends to a fault, and while somewhat scatterbrained he was noted as resourceful and inventive, though socially awkward. His primary talents were in telekinesis and energokinetics and was noted for his handiness in close quarters combat and his mastery of personal scale psychobiotics and telekinesis that allowed him to move with far more strength and speed than he had any right to. He was even capable of telekinetic flight.

Brazag was a Nightterror, a genetically engineered super-soldier; while not designed for tremendous intelligence, he wasn't a dumb brute and would be quick to castigate anyone who thought of him that way, and wielded tremendously heavy armour and equally big weapons. Even out of his battlesuit, though the suit was essentially grafted to him and only ever meant to be removed for maintenance or upgrades, the four meter tall colossus could still punch tank armour and solid bulkheads in. He wasn't going to be much of a talker, or a techie, and his primary combat skill was brute force and even more brute force. Still, always good to have a walking tank that can stop a freight train in its tracks on stand by.

Jasmine was another super-soldier, of the Archer class. In the fourth world war, these archers had their reflexes and physicality enhanced to the point that with their superheated HEAT arrows they could threaten tanks and aircraft alike; serving as more anti-armor counterparts to the Harpoons who also served as anti-air infantry, and ever since then they improved the formula. Whereas the first archers looked positively freakish, she looked considerably more normal; though she was a full two and a quarter meters tall and could pop a man's skull with her fingers. As a markswoman, she'd be useful in long range firefights.

Squalork Ykandia was a particularly large, genetically altered squid who would be the second largest of her crew at a half tonne who primarily interacted with others from her tank or from within an environmental suit when she deigned to venture out. She had a few primary skills, namely science; particularly of forensic sorts and biology, and telepathy; where she had shown a tremendous talent for influencing the minds of others and mind control. Some lesser talents in other fields were also shown, with her abilities in telekinesis and biokinesis being her distant seconds and thirds to telepathy, but she'd be an undoubtable asset. And in a pinch, she was a decent pilot.

Closing up the terminal, she sent her selections for approval, and after a wait of fifteen minutes, she got her affirmative reply. "_Well, I suppose I'll have to wait until they're ready for me to meet then._" She said with a sigh as she picked up her cup of chocolate infused, brown sugar ladened coffee and drank in the overly sweet liquid.

"_How did anyone ever manage to live without coffee, chocolate, and sugar?_" She said to herself as she stood up and went to cash in for the day.

* * *

The following day

"_Your crew is waiting at Hangar 3C._" The message read as she made her way to the hangar, going through a series of security checks and exchanging some words with the guards as she eyed the contents of the hangar; defensive turrets placed strategically to deal with anyone who tried to board the hangar. She followed the psychic trail given to her to lead her to the ship that was assigned to her and nearly stopped cold as she took a better look at it. The form of the Snarl class stealth frigate "ENSS Gremlin" lay in waiting for her, the ship extending for two hundred and fifty meters and the heavily rounded, almost organically smooth; with no fully flat surfaces save for its wings for usage in atmosphere; frame of the brown, purple and black frigate almost seemed to call to her. She had seen quite a lot of ships before; from little corvettes to gargantuan dreadnoughts and supercarriers, but she never had a ship that was essentially *hers*.

She quickly realized how stupid her gape-mouthed self must have looked and shook her head as she submitted to another security check from the guards at the boarding dock, giving them a quick salute. "_Yuri is master._" She said to them.

"_Yuri is master!_" They replied in unison as she walked on in, letting them return to an at ease position as she patiently waited for the ship to go through the processes to allow her to board before she walked in, being greeted by a more guards in the ship and yet more security checks. One could never be too sure after all, she assured herself as they cleared her and let her into the rather gothic interior of the vessel, passing by the control room of the ship.

"_Pleasure to meet you ma'am._" Came a voice from inside the cockpit, the rather American accent drawing her interest as she peered in and found the source of the greeting. Some masked ensigns sat at their stations, but the one in the pilot's chair declined the usage of anything to cover his face, and the somewhat rounded features of a man with a scruffy beard and tremendously alert eyes caught her attention.

"_The name's Jeff Moreau, but everyone on the ship calls me Joker. Gotta say, working for the Inquisition was not high on the list of things I expected. Nevermind meeting one of the survivors of Dracul. Hey, Inquisitor Ca-_" Joker started before Catalina cut him off with a wave.

"_I'm not an Inquisitor yet brethren; just call me ma'am or commander._" She said, giving him a modest smile as she moved her hands over her lap and held her left hand with her right.

"_Riiight, so can you tell me if it's true that you're on a crazed quest for vengeance against all pirates everywhere? Just wanna make sure I'm not taking orders from a Yuri botherer with a psychotic vendetta._" He said, looking at her dead in the eye from his position in the command chair and causing her jaw to drop. That was...incredibly unexpected talk to say the least.

"_...Do you...always talk to commanders like this?_" She said, stammering for a bit before she found the right words. She expected this from foreigners, people from the rougher parts of society, even some of her friends, but a total stranger who was born and raised in Epsilon to speak like this without a hint of hostility caught her off guard on every level.

"_Heeeey, no offense miss Schola graduate but I like to be absolutely sure on what kind of person I'm taking orders from. And well, people who get orphaned the way you did often have issues. Just saying. And look, sorry if I poked anywhere I shouldn't have poked._" He said, raising up his hands defensively and mentally bracing for her chastisement.

She simply sighed and shook her head. "_It's fine...Joker._" She said, needing a moment to catch herself before she said Jeff and use his nickname in its stead. "As far as I know, I don't go on berserk rampages. It's burned a hole in my heart that screams for blood, but I've learned how to cope." She said with a sigh and a relaxation of her shoulders, Joker slowly lowering his hands.

"_How do you cope then?_" He said, daring to probe a little farther.

"_By imagining the people who I'm unwinding my frustrations against are those space pirates._" She said with a grin that made Joker let out a small "Eep!" as he pushed himself farther into his seat.

"_Then what's your story then?_" She asked putting her elbows on the closest available platform for them.

"_Oh me? Oh, I was born on one of the fringeworlds; parents were always of the opinion that you trust the tangilable things before you start praying for salvation. I would have been born with brittle bones if the geneticists didn't catch that while I was a wee little embryo and fix it. So I'm pretty happy with serving the Dominion._" He said, swinging his feet a bit in the chair.

"_And why are you nicknamed Joker?_" She asked, squinting slightly and curling the edge of her lips into a curious little smirk.

"_Well, when I was training for being a pilot, I felt like I had something to prove. A lot of my classmates had way richer blood or could afford practicing out of class. So I got crazy serious, so they started calling me "Joker" ironically. Then when I went and picked up some levels in smartass the nickname stopped being ironic and stuck like metal to a magnetron._" He said with a wide grin.

"_I schooled the rest of my class like you wouldn't believe. I don't mean to brag but I'd say I'm the best damn pilot in the Dominion so I'd say I deserve to be a bit of a wise guy._" He finished, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back in his chair, a very accomplished and self assured looking grin stretching across his face.

"_I see. Getting along with the other crew?_"

"_Joachim's got the kind of enthusiasm you could plug into a grid and light up a city with but he's just a bit too much of a Yuri botherer for me. Jean-Luc's so cynical it hurts, but hey the things he can do with a computer are amazing. Brazag's not super-smart but the guy knows how to have fun, he's surprisingly artsy too. Jasmine's the most pedantic fucking person I've ever met but if you've got a problem, she'll go and listen to it. And Squalork? Super, duper serious but I don't think I've ever gotten an "I don't know" out of her yet. I'll keep grilling her until he cracks though. Just wait, you'll see._" He explained, spreading his arms out and swiveling somewhat in his chair.

"_And how's the ship?_" Catalina said, mentally taking notes of anything joker said.

"_Oh the Gremlin's awesome. He handles like a dream and he packs a mean punch. He's pretty tough too. Definitely in the top ten best frigate classes I'd say._" He said, patting the armrests of his chair as if he were patting the head of a pet.

"_Good to know, carry on then._" She said, tipping her cap to him as she moved to the meeting room. She made a few greetings to assorted personnel before stopping when she saw Igor and Anderson looking over the team mates she assembled.

The first to greet her was Joachim, who eagerly turned around, walked forward, and gave a quick salute. She quickly looked over him and noticed he was actually already in battle gear, which definitely got an eyebrow out of her. His gear was like a blend of the features of the tesla troopers of the third world war and stout acolyte armor, with angled pauldrons and had he been wearing it; a helmet that would have called the milanese helmets of the late medieval and early renaissance era to mind.

"_Ma'am it's an honor to meet you. Like wow, an Inquisitor to be! Jeez, I'd say I'm speechless but well...hahaha._ " He said with a wide smile, scratching at the back of his head when she stopped saluting him, nervously chuckling as he tried to think on what to do next but she pre-empted the youth by offering out a hand.

"Well, no need to be so nervous, I don't bite." She said as she took his hand in hers and shook it.

"_I've read your profile and I'm quite impressed._ " She continued as she gave him another once over. She stood about an inch taller than he did, and she noticed him frequently rocking back and forth on his feet.

"_I've got high expectations for you neophyte._" She said, feeling his grip on her hand and guessing he was probably genetically altered for more strength while she looked next to Robespierre.

"_Ah, Robespierre; I've heard a number of things about you. Some distasteful, some quite interesting._" She said, looking the clean shaven, ruddy haired man in the eyes, her reds keeping entirely focused on the devilish man's greens, despite being older than her or Joachim; he stood at a humble five foot nine, making him the shortest out of the bunch and letting her glare down at him. He offered her a grin, giving her a once over.

"_Ah, I heard that the commander was going to be a feast for the eyes, and I'm quite pleased the rumors were true._" He said, offering her a wink as Catalina's jaw dropped and red flushed to her cheeks.

"_Acolyte! This is not the time or the place, continue with this line of thought at your own risk._" She protested, managing to force her expression of shock away almost as soon as it arrived and turned her offense into a quick, snappy order as he chuckled and shook his head.

A scowl soon formed on her face, this man was most certainly going to end up on a number of lists if he kept this up. He threw up his hands into the air, the fit, buff man only now ceasing his laughter as he brought his hands down from his mock surrender, with Igor and Anderson both glaring daggers through him before a cough from Anderson finally put an end to Robespierre's grin; the Scorpion Cell member muttering under his breath briefly.

"_Alright, alright._" He said as he shook his head.

"_If you need any software spliced or otherwise handled; I'll be of tremendous service to you Inquisitor. And if you need a pret-_" He said before Catalina cut him off and turned to Jasmine next.

"_I trust you are skilled with weapons other than the compound gravimetric bow?_" She asked, looking at the supersoldier up and down and being quite cognizant that as tall as she was, Jasmine was a full two and a third meters tall and her suit added even more height to her, letting her tower over the less heavily augmented. With hair as black as the void of space and eyes with irises matching Epsilon's favoured shade of purple, this product of headquarters finishing tying her hair into a bun. Her suit was made to take hits and the helmet she lay on a table was clearly a mark meant for assisting the user's aim as much as possible, with a polymer faceplate rather than the smaller lenses or visors preferred by much of Epsilon.

"_Of course, I have been trained in the use of most any weapon category you care to name. You will not find me wanting milady._" She said, placing a fist over her heart and offering a bow.

"_Good. Anything else I should know that may have been left off your record?_"

"_I have done a few operations alongside a Council Specter under my prior inquisitor, I hope this will not prove to be a source of doubt for you._" She said, looking down at the inquisitor to be.

"_Not at all._" Catalina said, a thin lipped smile forming on her face.

"_Experience with those from C-space might actually be very useful. We'll just have to see where this investigation takes us._" She said, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet once before giving her a salute and moving on to the next individual to speak to.

She paused for a moment as she locked gazes with Brazag, the lenses of the giants' suit staring down at her from high above. The armorsuit's tall domelike helmet bore four glowing purple circles equidistant from one another arranged in a square, entirely devoid of any recognizable expression as the hulking giant's helmet swiveled to keep the inquisitor in his sights. Obvious hardpoints for weapons were mounted onto his suit, and even jasmine seemed dwarfed next to this four meter tall colossus, armor plating serving to make him seem even larger than he already was.

"_Ah, yes, you are Brazag yes?_" She said, tilting her head upwards to meet the gaze of the genetically engineered monstrosity, who made a simple nod.

"_Yes. I will fight for you._" The giant said.

"_Anything else?_" Catalina said, shuffling slightly on her feet, quirking a brow at the massive brute.

"_Give me something to break and I will do well. I'm not so good at the...delicate things._" He responded, his unblinking gaze never lessening in intensity.

"_Of course brethren. I will…_" She paused, shuffling her feet before looking back up at the colossus and flashing a smile.

"_Keep this in mind, yes._" She said before peeling away from the brute to the next part of her team.

Finally she came upon Squalork, who was busily handling scientific equipment in her chamber, deft tentacles controlling mechanical arms outside of her tank as her massive eyes pored over data on a screen before affixiating themselves on Catalina, the pupils dilating as they focused squarely on the silver haired woman before them.

"_You are the new inquisitor in training?_" A speaker said, translating the chromataphoric shifts of the Squid's body into understandable speech, in the form of the voice of a dithering old professor, keeping her arms close to the body while the two elongated tentacles hung lazily to the side.

"_Yes, do you have any problem with that?_" Catalina said, tilting her head to the side a bit.

"_Consider me somewhat skeptical of an inquisitorial recruit who got her position based on the friends she had growing up, it rankles my fondness for meritocracy over nepotism._" Squalork said, her body shifting all manner of strange colours, pulsating, rippling, and almost strobing as the the large squid lazily swarm around in circles inside of her tank, her equivalent of pacing.

"_I assure you I've had exemplary work as an acolyte and in my exams, if you would just...please give me a chance I could show you that their trust in me isn't misplaced._" Catalina responded, straightening her head and putting her hands in front of her lap; clasping them together.

"_I never said I would not follow you. Merely that I have reservations when you haven't even lived for twenty years. But I suppose that testing your aptitude is what these missions are all about, aren't they?_" Squalork said, floating as close as she could to the inquisitor-hopeful and "standing" herself upright as he did so.

"_Do you understand why I thought you'd make a good addition to my retinue?_" She asked, not so much as flinching in response to the squid bringing herself in front of her.

"_You are in need of someone who can understand the sciences, help you conduct forensic studies and unlock the mysteries of biology. I can assure you; you made a good choice. You can find any number of sophisticated telepaths or forensic scientists, but you won't find many who combine both skills in one magnificent mind._" The Squid said, wriggling her tentacles in self-assured confidence followed by her body taking on a much more gold hue before returning to her natural colours.

"_Well then, I hope you will be able to live up to the reputation in your records, Squalork._" She said, the Squid offering her a salute before she broke off and headed down the ship, looking at her check list.

* * *

Planet Sylvania, Drakenhof City

The planet itself was fairly unremarkable, named for its massive dark and foreboding forests which could span continents; the planet had been a colony of Epsilon for two centuries, and with such deep roots in the dominion; if someone wanted information, Sylvania was probably a lot more likely to give you what you wanted than some your usual backwater, and less crawling with the police than Earth proper.

Stepping onto the fields after emerging from her shuttle, she looked into the sky at the fortress the city was named after, foreboding as always; built rather like an old castle, and quite capable of housing everyone who mattered in the case of external attack. And with its strong shielding and many defensive gun emplacements and the formidable garrison; Drakenhof would not budge in the face of all but the harshest of attack. Which made the decision for a crime ring to establish itself in its shadow all the stranger.

A quick flash and confirmation of her credentials soon had already allowed her to land her shuttle to land right before the security station before dropping her and her compatriots off, whom she had keep a few paces behind her as he passed through the doors of the building and was greeted by Arbiters giving her a salute before parting. She briefly looked around, pursing her lips a bit before she removed her helmet to greet the chief arbiter; the dark skinned and bearded man giving her a stiff salute.

"_Acolyte, it is a pleasure to meet you._" He said as he returned to an at ease position, the genetically enhanced acolyte giving him a respectful nod as well as her red eyes studied him.

"_Chief Arbiter Uwaytu, let me express the Inquisition's gratitude for informing us of the situation so quickly._" She said with a smile that showed her fangs, traits which gave many of Epsilon's genetically altered supersoldiers the moniker of vampire, though it was meant more to tear out someone's throat if unarmed than it was to drink blood. Being entirely used to such a sight, Uwaytu paid it no heed as he showed her all the needed files; the woman skimming through them as she took them out of his hands.

"_And you're certain about the accusations you're making?_" She said, looking at the Arbiter's profile for his chief suspect that would lead her to the heart of the crime ring. The file listed a Volus, Kil Nuftri as their man. While the data they had on him certainly suggested that he was more than likely to be involved in subversive activity, she wanted to be absolutely sure before they made any moves against him.

"_I am absolutely certain. The man has a history of anti-epsilonism and our monitors have discovered unusual transfers of money from his account. But that wouldn't have been enough without a telepathic probe conducted yesterday that has confirmed our suspicions that he has been seeing members of a Mafia based in Citadel Space. However, once we had confirmation that our quarry is based in C-Space, we felt it necessary to contact you. You do have the authority to prosecute individuals outside of the Dominion, don't you inquisitor?_" Uwaytu said, leaning forward as he presented the files to her, idly scratching his scruffy beard as Catalina quickly looked over the presented files.

_"I do, and I think this will be enough for me to make a request to deal with the rest of the organization in citadel space. Thank you for showing me this. Is there anything else you need me to do?_" She asked as she transferred the data into her own computers with a few technopathic commands to the screen, her red eyes focusing on him as she leaned just a bit back, straightening her posture.

"_We would like you to help us in making the initial arrests._" He said, a smile forming on his face.

"_Gladly._" She said with a wide grin.

* * *

Warehouse DX-371, a few hours later.

The whole room shook from the sounds of something impacting the metal door as it began to crumple inwards, before giving way completely before the second fist that smashed it inwards and sent it flying off of its hinges. A Turian who happened to be on the other side let out a final exclamation before being hit by the door and smashing into the wall behind him, leaving a messy paste while everyone in the room began to fire and shout blindly at the new hole in their defenses. Emerging with Brazag, Jasmine, Joachim, and Jean; she walked into the room with a distinctly calm stroll her form fitting armour strongly resembling that of a medieval knight, with a slope at the chestplate to contain her modest bust and a somewhat armet (if more rounded) esque helmet with a distinctive narrow V-visor with a shallow dip with a distinctive pony-tail crest coming out from behind. Heavier than Jean's specialist Eparch armor, she kept the symbol of her office, a ceremonial but functional telekine broadsword, clipped to her waist while her proper weapons were contained in an arm cannon that she unfurled out of movable plates in the suit, magnetic devices and technology ultimately derived from that of the IFVs in the third and fourth world wars quickly assembling the cylindrical weapon around her right hand.

Data fed into her mind through her suit's telepathic link with her, removing the need for a cluttered HUD and allowing the armour to move in perfect syncronicity with her. Had she gone naked, she would have not improved her freedom of movement at all with how well synced to her body her armour was. The emblem of the inquisition was proudly demonstrated on her pauldrons, while the symbol of Epsilon itself was marked on her breastplate, a clear sign of her authority to any who would question her duties and the powers that come with them.

Standing behind Brazag, she nodded at the Nightterror as he slammed his fists together; activating a shockwave generator that released a shockwave that expanded outwards, picking up cover and men like toys and throwing them across the room like ragdolls.

"_Hah! A bunch of little men with little toys!_" Brazag laughed as the return fire, staggered and confused as the survivors groggily tried to pick themselves up, pinged off of his shields and his armor. He spread out his arms, as if welcoming the rain of rounds impacting him before he grabbed one of the heavier crates with his massive gauntleted hands and gave it a might toss, smashing it through the supports of some catwalks to send everyone on them toppling onto the ground some ten meters below.

"_Try to avoid killing them if you can, I need them alive to be interrogated._" She said as she felt some rounds impact her on the side, making her stagger as she turned to the source of the shots, an Asari busily laying suppressive fire with some manner of LMG. Making a quick "tch" with her throat, Catalina telekinetically reached out to the Asari and felt for her throat, the gangster letting out a choking sound as she dropped her weapon, grabbing for her throat by reflex as she dragged her off of her vantage point and threw her onto the ground; her arm cannon switching to suppressive fire mode as it released a spray of telekinetically and magnetically accelerated and pyrokinetically impregnated rounds that tore through softer forms of cover and forced the heads of a fire team of human smugglers down, huddling them together for a telekine thrust from her to slam their cover into them and smash them against the wall with enough force to knock all five of them out.

"_You have your device ready Jean?_" She asked as the short man gave a grin and advanced forward.

"_Oh do I ever. Stand back madame._" He said with an almost diabolical degree of relish as a device powered by a backpack placed on his armour mounted on his shoulder began to hum to life as it then projected a magnetic barrier and then shoved the wall of magnetic force forward; bowling over crates, mass accelerator rounds, people wearing metal implements, and everything else that could be affected by such a forcefully powerful magnetic field.

With a second pulse of technopathic thought, the device then whined as it transformed its magnetic field into a directed electromagnetic pulse to overwhelm the machinery of the crime group and bring all the drones of the group down all at once.

"_Ma'am, sniper at your eight o'clock, should I handle it?_" Jasmine asked as she let loose a spread of three arrows that struck their targets in the chests and prompted the trio of aliens to fly backwards; their flesh sizzling from the superheated arrowheads; their shields evaporated by the electromagnetic pulse released by Jean.

"_No need, I'll deal with it._" She said as she turned her gaze to the would be Salarian sniper. With an intent stare she projected her will and reached into the mind of her target. With a blink the Salarian felt thoughts that weren't his own writing themselves in his head, commands that he had to follow as strongly as he would any passion of his. His mind was tough, it resisted Catalina's will for a bit, but she had the greater will and he turned his weapon on an illegal shipment of explosive munitions and fired repeatedly until the explosives detonated with a series of pops like popcorn being cooked before exploding in a brilliant fireball and a deafening shockwave.

With everyone so tied up, Joachim was easily able to force most of the remaining gangsters to the ground with a quick application of telekinesis as Catalina strolled up to a terrified looking Volus who raised a pistol at her before she quickly grabbed it out of his hands telekinetically; a burly human guard of the frightened Volus leaping at Catalina only for Joachim to smash him back with a sudden telekinetic wall and then producing some manner of club from his belt; the baton extending and forming a mass effect manipulating head. Before the man could recover, Joachim dealt with him via a single stroke of Joachim's shock maul, the hum of the weapon being drowned out by the sound of its hard impact and a distinctly unhealthy sounding gurgle as armour and bone squelched at the weapon's impact.

"_Th-the inquisition? H-here?_" Nuftri said, his legs shaking in panic as Catalina approached him, a smirk forming beneath her helmet as she retracted her helmet; letting her hair; kept in a tall pony-tail that went diagonally upwards for an inch or two before cascading down to about the bottom of her shoulder blades, two locks of hair going down to about her cheeks in front of her ears the silver locks of hair almost glowing in the lights of the warehouse and leaving the mystery of how she fits it all in her helmet an open question, her Vampire like fangs bared by a cruel smirk. Her red eyes glowed in the light as she approached him, the exposure of her face signifying just how little she cared for the weapons fire of the remainder of his gang as she casually snatched the pistol he raised out of his hands with but a single pull from her telekinetics and then restrained his entire body as if a vise had been placed over every square inch of his suit.

"_You have made quite a bit of trouble for us Nuftri. Smuggling in illegal weapons, aiding and abetting anti-Epsilonist terrorists, cooperating with foreign organized crime, distributing subversive propaganda...all of these are quite serious charges as I'm sure you're aware._" She said as she lifted him into the air, bringing him level to her face, maintaining that usual easy smile.

"_D-don't kill me!_" He pleaded, trying to bring his hands to cover his face.

"_Don't worry, I have no intention of doing so._" She said as she telekinetically brought a seat up for him and gently laid him on it; releasing her grip on him as she gave him a more reassuring smile.

"_I can make sure you are treated very leniently by the justice system in fact, just as long as you talk._"

"Y-you can?" He said, some confusion in his voice.

"_You'll have to cooperate of course. But if you do, I can see to it that you and those of your associates who do repent will face lesser charges and be recommended for light sentences. We will first of all, take death, mutation, or permanent domination off the table. But here is not the best place to speak...think about my offer while we round you all up._" She said as she gently said some commands to the arbiters, having the whole room cleared out and everyone brought in for Arbiter processing.

* * *

Arbiter Station

"_And you say that this web goes all the way to Citadel space?_" She said, pushing him another thermos filled with a pressurized ammonia based drink laced with a mild truth serum. Though of course, the Volus was never aware of the contaminants in what he thought was just a tasty cold beverage. For the past few hours she had been getting him to relax and had been chatting him up like a friend. That was something Anderson had stressed to her as an interrogator,, cruelty and torture never got you answers. A tormented person would simply tell you whatever they thought you wanted to hear to make the pain stop.

However if you make people feel at ease enough to engage in casual conversation with you, you'd always be surprised at just how much they let slip off their tongues. Perhaps slower than a telepathic probe, but this tactic created willing informants who could be sent back to do further work for Epsilon and given defense against enemy telepathy, whereas another telepath could possibly break mind control and the freed agent would spill everything on the spot. Catalina herself was unfond of resorting to the brute force probe to begin with, finding that it was often hard to find the information she wanted through the morass of memory. A friendly interrogation, a light dosage of truth serum to get people to relax and open up, and simple telepathic scans and mundane methods of "reading people" to help verify information told to her often worked better and helped to build trust with people she was hoping to turn into informants. Ransacking through the memory was reserved for people she entirely intended to throw into the brig once she was done.

"_Oh yes, the Citadel governments aren't actually involved of course, but the crime ring that hired me out is based on the Citadel._" He said, hooking up the Thermos to his suit via a little tube and taking a big sip of his drink.

"_The Citadel?_" She said, her hands clasped together as the Volus nodded, still busy with his drink. In no hurry, Catalina simply waited for him to finish and speak up.

"_Correct._"

"_Being at the center of C-Space seems like it would be quite dangerous. Does such not put them dangerously close to the centers of galactic government? How did you learn to manage with C-Sec and the Spectres?_" She asked, leaning slightly back.

"_If you have the right leverage over the right politicians and C-Sec officials you have little to worry about from C-Sec. Some more dedicated cops can't be corrupted, but if you control their leash, you can slide with much. And believe me the Platinum Ring group has plenty of people in its pockets."_ He said in response, seeming to nod in approval at his drink's flavor.

"_And the Spectres? Are they not above the law and given leave to dispense justice as they see fit?_" She asked, eyes focused on him and very gently adjusting her peaked cap with her telekinesis when she noticed it was dipping a little.

"_Oh in theory a Spectre can do just about anything they want to as long as the Council doesn't censure them. In practice, even the Spectres have to follow the unsaid rules of society. If they just run in blasting anyone they want to, even if the Council approves of it they'll find that they will hold very little real power outside of the range of their guns and whatever personal abilities they have. A Spectre is made or broken based by their contacts and allies, and I wouldn't be surprised if some use this crime ring as some of those contacts and allies to get at bigger fish._" He explained, making small and casual hand gestures as he calmly spoke.

"I see, you wouldn't happen to know of any of them would you?" She asked, her brow quirking just a bit.

"_Me? Nah I'm not high enough in the chain of command to know anything like that. You will deal with them though right? I wouldn't want anyone coming after me after they figure out that I spoke to you._" He said, seeming to be a bit nervous, and justifiably so. Crime rings never liked snitches.

"_We will arrange for your protection of course. Thank you for cooperating with us Nuftri. We will see to it that you are properly rewarded for your cooperation._" She said as she stood up and out of her chair, giving him a nod as she held a datapad in her hand and walked out of the room where Igor and Anderson were waiting for her. The Darkly lit room showed the bright and seemingly comfortable room on the other side where their Volus captive seemed to be greatly enjoying the remainder of his drink and easing into the rather comfortable chair.

"_It seems that you will be venturing out of the boundaries of our great dominion Cioban._" Anderson said, giving her an approving nod while Igor stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"_Surely my work here is done, no?_" Catalina said, blinking in surprise at the news that she would be receiving an international deployment already.

"_I will be present to supervise of course. I have contacts on the Citadel who can be of help in our investigation, but for me to fully verify whether you are ready to become a full Inquisitor I need to see how you can handle the duties entrusted to our office; domestic and foreign. I have much faith in you Child. I expect nothing less than exemplary duty for the Dominion, for the Epsilon Path, and for Yuri._" He said, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile.

"_Thank you sir. Hail to the Great Yuri._" She said, giving him a stiff open handed salute; bringing her left hand to the side of her head and spreading open her fingers.

"_Hail to the Great Yuri!_" Everyone else in the room shouted as they repeated the saluting gesture.

* * *

EINSS Gremlin

"_Citadel Space huh?_" Moreau said as he watched the mechanisms of the great teleportarium before him as he sent in the commands for it to prepare its jaunt sequence. Operating on what was known of Alliance Chronotech and Scrin Wormholes along with Epsilon's own research, the Teleportarium served as the Dominion's answer to the Mass Relays. Not as indestructible as the relays and requiring more time to power up, they also lagged behind the Chrono-gates of the Alliance in a number of ways, such as the Chrono-gates' energy efficiency and range. However, the Teleportariums could handle larger numbers of ships and were at least advertised as being safer.

"_Jeeze, what kind of welcome do you think we'll be getting?_" Joachim asked, scratching the back of his neck as the blue eyed kid looked out the window as the Teleportarium's mechanisms began to stir to life.

"_Hopefully we'll be seeing more Quarians and Krogans and fewer Asari._" Jean said, scoffing slightly as huffed in some vapor from a pipe, jostling the pipe around in his mouth with his teeth.

"_From reading your profile I thought you'd be delighted to meet all the blue women you can._" Jasmine said, smirking as the tall archeress leaned on the walls and folded her arms.

"_Nah you see, the Asari republics think we're some kind of evil empire. You can't get with a woman who thinks you're the devil, not unless she thinks she can fix you or she's looking for some bad boy. I'm not dealing with that. Krogans though? Krogans I can have a decent conversation at a bar with. And let me tell you about Quarian ladies, especially the ones who worship the ground we walk on. You see they're a fi-_"

"_Enough, please. I think I can go through this trip without needing to hear about your fetish for grey digitrade women._" Jasmine said with a scowl, her smirk disappearing so quickly one could wonder if it was ever there to begin with.

"_It's not a fetish, just a preference_." Jean insisted.

"_A fetish is a sexual preference by definition._" She said scoldingly, not even dignifying him with a look towards his direction.

"_That's not how I use the term little miss Atlanta._" He said, having been cycling through a number of nicknames to get under her goat for the entirety of the trip.

"_You're using it wrong then._" She said coldly.

"_I'm just hoping we don't get hassled by the authorities really. You know, just let us do our job and we'll let them do theirs._" Joachim said, biting his lips as the teleportarium lit up as it went through it's final sequences before shunting the Gremlin to its destination.

"_We'll see how many deployments that chipper attitude of yours lasts._" Jean said with a sniff as he put his tube away.

"_Feh, this will be a boring mission. Maybe they'll have some museum for me to check out...be less bored that way._" Brazag said, the nightterror's voice loud and clear through the intercoms as his helmet obscured face leered through the screen he was seeing the bridge through.

"_You'll be fine Brazag, not every mission needs you to break something._" Squalork cut in, also through the intercom and through a viewscreen.

"_Do these hands look like the hands of subtlety?_" Brazag said as he brought his gauntleted hands to show his point.

"_Alright kids cut the chatter, the teleportarium will be ready in three...two...one..._" He said before the teleportarium bent space and time and projected the ship right over to a mass relay that Epsilon and C-space agreed would be their primary link between the forces of the Earth and the Citadel. Hanging near the Mass relay for a few seconds more, the Mass Relay then formed its massless corridor and shot the Gremlin through it like a railgun's projectile, travelling the distance of thousands of light years in a single second to another relay that "bounced" the ship to a third relay and then finally to the Citadel itself.

"_Whoa._" Joachim said as he looked at the enormous shape of the Citadel looming through the thick purple clouds of the serpentine Nebula. Housing a bit more than a billion people guarded by some twenty million C-sec personnel and standing at over one hundred and thirty kilometers from end to end, the Citadel was virtually a world unto itself. And it was most certainly guarded like one as a large array of fleets hung around it. Ten Turian fleets centered around three dreadnoughts, two carriers, and either a supercarrier or a superdreadnought each, Three of each other council race, and one from each Citadel Associate Government and Turian Client State; with Five fleets from the Alliance to mark their friendship with C-space. Subsidary stations to accomodate the military ships and house additional facilities orbited around the citadel like moons around a planet, giving it wide enough birth to allow it to open fully if need be, and "static" defenses such as mass accelerator and GARDIAN stations hovered gently. Many obviously training on the Gremlin as it approached.

"+_With Guarded welcoming; This is C-Sec docking authority to Epsilon frigate, state your identity and your business._+" Came in a deep Elcor voice.

"+_This is Interrogator Catalina Cioban of the Dominion Inquisition and acting CO of the EINSS Gremlin. We are requesting permission to dock and conduct conduct inquisitorial business in cooperation with C-space authority as is permitted by article fourteen subesection D of the treaty of Uberwald. Contained in this transmission are our credentials, and the reference for our Citadel-side contacts._+" Catalina said, pressing the button to have her hail's audiofeed go through. There was a pause for a minute or so.

"_Think they'll let us in?_" Joachim asked.

"_I would hope so, it would have been a waste for us to come all the way here if we weren't to be let through._" Catalina said with a sigh, exchanging looks with Joachim and giving him a small smile.

"_We could hardly force our way through anyway. We would be vaporized in seconds if they wanted us gone and did not wish to wait for our departure and even illusion devices would not get us far enough._" Squalork said.

"_Wow thanks for that thought there little miss sunshine, I really do appreciate thinking about my possible immediate demise._" Jeff said, rolling his eyes as he tapped idly at his armrests.

"_It'd be painless at least_." Jasmine noted, pushing herself up into a proper standing position.

"_Pah I can't do anything about death in a spacebattle._" Brazag noted bitterly.

"_Guys they won't shoot us, they'll just tell us to leave if we aren't approved._" Joachim said, just about exasperated with all this negativity.

"+_With Sincere Welcome: Your access has been granted. You may dock at Hangar C, we would wish you a productive and safe visit to the citadel and hope you enjoy your stay.+_" The Elcor finally replied.

"_Seems that we won't be finding out how long this ship can last after all._" Anderson said with a pleased smile as Catalina gave him a tip of her cap as thanks.

"_Glad you had the right contacts after all._" She said.

* * *

Citadel docking bays, Hangar C.

The Gremlin fitted smoothly into the docking clamps provided by the Citadel's facilities, coming to a gentle stop as the sleek frigate was mated to its clamps and extended an exit tube to meet with the walkway being extended by the hangar. A procession of guards was already waiting there, the C-Sec personnel nervously waiting as a few shapes could be seen among them wearing armour that stood out among the blue and white of C-sec standard issue. She figured this had to be the posse of the spectre given that they were distinctly non-uniform in appearance.

Catalina emerged first, Anderson at her side, followed by Joachim, Jasmine, Jean, Brazag, and then Squalork in her environmental suit; having sat the last mission out to prepare her forensics materials and now deeming herself ready to join her comrades in the outside world. Igor would be remaining with Moureau on the ship, having other business to attend to. Almost the moment they exited, whispers started to circulate around the C-Sec procession that nervously awaited them. With the cold war between the Babylon Pact and C-space, the arrival of any Epsilon ships at all was a cause for concern, especially one that identified itself with Epsilon's Inquisition so openly. She could sense their discomfort at her presence, their minds like an open book to someone as skilled at psychic abilities as herself, though to be fair; their organizations had essentially been in varying states of hostilities for the past fifty years and many would have never known a day when Epsilon wasn't a bogeyman of some sort.

One Turian in particular seemed quite pleased to see Anderson, extending a hand to shake his as Anderson stepped ahead of the procession. With distinctive black and red armor, a dark grey carapace and bone white facepainting, he actually looked rather intimidating, but the way he greeted Anderson made it clear that they were at complete ease in each other's presences.

"_Nihlus, good to see you're still in one piece after that op at Omega._" Anderson said as they exchanged salutes.

"_A pleasure to see you again Anderson. And I wouldn't worry about me, I'm made out of tougher stuff than a bunch of Eclipse mercs can throw at me. Hard to believe she's the apprentice you showed me all those years ago. And even harder to believe you've brought Jasmine along for this ride as well._" Nihlus said, looking to Catalina and her crew as they quickly shifted into an at ease position. He briefly put his chin between his index finger and thumb as he studied her, nodding a bit. When Nihlus was serving as an official Spectre liason and observer in Pact space, he had worked extensively with Anderson and Igor, and had come into contact with her rather extensively in her schola years. While he wasn't particularly fond of the Dominion as a government, he treated her like a niece and always brought her something interesting from C-Space. She shared a brief smile with him, her vampire like fangs briefly coming on display before he turned back to Anderson.

"_She is indeed, she's a grown woman now, ready to become a leader in our inquisition and this is her handpicked crew._" Anderson said, moving to Nihlus' side to let him get a good look at them all; motioning his right hand over Catalina's chosen crew as Jasmine gave Nihlus and the second male Turian a nod of recognition, with the other Turian; clad in blue privately purchased armor with a distinct sniper's digi-monocle over his right eye, pointed two of his fingers at his own eyes and then turned his hand around to point as Jasmine's. From what she picked up from the snippets of the two's private telepathic conversation, it seems they were intending on having a marksmanship contest as soon as possible.

"_Catalina Cioban sir, it does me honor to meet you again Nihlus._" She said as she gave him a salute and a tip of her peaked cap; her helmet and arm cannon both folded away into her armorsuit. Nihlus turned his attention back to her and gave her a nod, folding his arms in front of his chest and seeming to be in a rather good mood.

"_You've grown remarkably. Though it seems that you've not changed your hair style much since I last saw you...spirits what was it, ten years ago? I'm not sure how you manage to keep all that hair under control in your helmet. But then I find myself wondering how anyone with hair or feathers keeps it all under control. Seems like more of a hassle than anything else._" He said, his jovial tone indicating that he was likely joshing her just a little.

"_The crest serves as a sheathe for the ponytail and covers the hair with nanolathed protection. And hair care is hardly the most difficult thing in the world. You can make things a lot easier with technology and telekinesis._" She said with a shrug.

"_Fair enough. Now I understand that you've traced some crime problems to our station, correct?_" He said, dropping his hands to his sides.

"_That would indeed be the case. You wouldn't happen to have any leads would you?_" Catalina asked.

"_I do in fact, I've been monitoring the platinum rings for some time now for their ties to a whole bunch of nastier organizations. Some way out in the Terminus systems. They're a hub for more than just your usual sex, weapon, and drug trafficking. We're talking ties to terrorist organizations and espionage._" He said, waving a hand to dismiss the various C-sec personnel so he could speak without them listening in on them.

"_Why haven't you just brought the roof down on them then?_" Joachim asked, stepping forward before Catalina brought a hand out to gently push him back.

"_I've just found out about their operations in the Citadel after tracking down some goons in the Attican traverse and C-Sec's resources are being allocated to root out a confirmed Tib cultist terrorist cell in another section of the wards. and a Batarian spy ring. The organized crime stuff is falling between the cracks; especially with the Batarian war scare going on right now, and they've got some powerful friends who would make my life in the Citadel an issue if I dealt with them alone. But, since you aren't part of Citadel politics that isn't an issue for you. The council's given this mission a green light, the way they see it, this might help ease some tensions and grease some wheels. The way I see it, we both win here. We both get to talk about this as a sign of international cooperation between law enforcement, the cold war thaws a little, we nix a crime hub, the dominion gets a new inquisitor, and the political fallout isn't on my head._" Nihlus said, spreading his arms out slightly as only a few of the former crowd of people near the Gremlin remained nearby.

"_Oh I see, who are the people you've got with you?_" Joachim asked, looking past Nihlus to have a look at the people still remaining behind.

"_Oh these people are my associates. Garrus Vikarian, Val Goran, Marcia Lyra, Xegus Lark, Kayline, and Samara. I tend to do solo-ops, so I have them work as a squad elsewhere on my operations, to serve as either back up or a second team to find other ways to accomplish my objectives. Sometimes we all deploy together for the harder missions. Garrus, Val, and Kayline serve on as fellow spectres while Samara, Xegus, and Marcia follow as associates._" Nihlus said, gesturing to the second Turian who seemed to be a bit busy trying to decide what to make of Brazag,, a Volus who seemd thoroughly bored, a female Turian who seemed to glare daggers through the gathered Epsilonists in front of him, a female Elcor who remained as impassive as Elcor ever do, a quiet Drell Woman who seemed lost in thought, and an Asari who wore a dress so low cut that Catalina had trouble imagining why her breasts didn't just bounce out at the first pressure. Whatever she was actually thinking was difficult to surmise, her mind was experienced at keeping itself closed and her expression was essentially rock solid.

"_What he means to say is that he takes the stealthy route without all the bad guys where he can work his telepathic voodoo while we go in head first into all the heavy firepower._" Garrus said with a little chuckle that was shared among the others present.

"_We're working with them, Nihlus?_" Marcia said, venom apparent in her voice as Catalina quirked an eyebrow towards the Turian.

"_Did you somehow miss the memo that we would be dealing with the creepy purple cultists from across the Mental Curtain? What, forget your telepathy blockers today or are you just plain forgetful?_" Garrus said with a hearty laugh as Marcia gave him a look that, if looks could produce energy, would bore into him like a GARDIAN laser.

"_With Suspicion: I am somehow doubtful that the Nightterror they have brought with them will be of tremendous use in a criminal investigation. With slightly mean spirited mirth: Unless he wishes to replace me as the designated pack mule._" Xegus said, the Elcor bumping the Volus next to her slightly as he looked away from his Omnitool long enough to finally regard the Epsilonists in front of him.

"_Have you ever considered that it's because you're very large and strong and I'm small and rotund that you get most of the heavy lifting jobs?_" The Volus said, placing his hands on his hips as the Elcor wheezed a little.

"_With barely constrained laughter: Between two biotics, and three turians I would have thought that at least one of you could do some of the lifting._" Xegus said with a bit of a rumble that was left untranslated.

"_Do you have any objections to working with them Samara?_" Nihlus asked.

"_I am sworn by the Code to follow you Nihlus. I have no reason to see harm in cooperating with the servants of the Dominion for the sake of bringing justice for now. While I have my distastes for their masters, the ones I see before me have not done anything wrong in my sight._" Samara said with a gracious bow.

"_Seems like we'll all get along just smoothly then._" Jasmine said with a smirk behind her helmet as she stretched her legs and rolled around a shoulder.

"_Personally I consider any time I'm not playing cloak and dagger with Yuri's secret police to be good cooperation as far as you guys are concerned. No offense of course but the whole staring contest thing and pissing matches in the traverse thing is a real drag on making nice._" Garrus said, Jasmine giving a small snort in response as the Turian leaned on some railings and folded his arms.

"_Keep them at arms length and make sure none of them get up to any head games. I've heard all the stories about what you spirits-cursed puppeteers get up to._" Marcia said, tensely laying a hand on her hip holstered side arm and getting a look from Cioban as she quirked a brow at the Turian, folding her arms behind her back as if to dare her to do something about her dislike.

"_I'm rather inclined to agree with any healthy distance kept from the Earth-Clan but I think it would be best to channel it into trying to outpreform them rather than trying to shoot them._" Val Goran said, sucking in breaths of highly dense air every now and then, his suit's optics shuttering whenever he blinked before he turned over to take another look at the group he was to be working with. Cioban found him to be a hard read as well, and figured that the Volus had spent more than enough time around telepaths to know how to provide himself some defense from casual scans.

"_Well with luck we'll be using our guns on a shared enemy instead of each other. I'd hate to not be able to visit some of the shops here and get myself something to vape. Yuri willing I'm not going to have to go cold turkey while I'm here. And Libra willing it'll be some good smoke too._" Jean said as he noted with displeasure that his supply of e-cigarettes seemed to be running a bit low and due to Catalina's rationing of what she deemed to be his "frivolous" usage of the fabricator he wasn't able to overstock as he usually did. Still, nothing she could do about him using his pay while off duty right? Tch if that's what he thought he'd have another thing coming, Catalina mused.

"_You're just going to get more of your damn smokes eh? Nothing else?_" Brazag said with his deep, rumbling voice and an accent that was rather difficult to place beyond "vaguely eastern european with hints of bits and pieces of western asian accents", and you didn't need to be a mind reader to know that Brazag was rather intensely skeptical.

"_I don't need to pay to get warm company for the night you walking lugnut._" Jean said, scratching his beard and sniffing a bit, his expression smug and full of self confidence.

"_Yeah I'm sure you'll find someone besides the engineering crew who finds your rambling about computers sexy at a bar._" Brazag snorted, his visor glowing a bit more intensely as the giant shifted a bit to let out a small laugh.

"_Probably before you find a guitar that lasts a whole month with those hands of yours._" Jean shot back, a mean spirited grin appearing on his face before Xegus cut in.

"_Politely Reminding: If the two of you wish to bicker it would be best to find a place where you can sit first instead of standing around the hangars all day. With Mild Exasperation: Some of us would like to get work done today._" Xegus said, shifting slightly forward to grab both of their attentions and narrowing her eyes just slightly.

"_I'm sure that we can all work together as professionals Xegus. Even if we have a few respect issues to iron out with our current mission companions. From what I have been told of you all, you show remarkable skills in your respective fields and I would like to believe that you can cooperate with us, as well as with each other_" Kayline said with a small nod and bow, the red coloured Drell getting some looks from Squalork who seemed to notice Kayline's psychic probings.

"_A drell then? I do not think I have seen any of you before._" Squalork said.

"_Nor have I ever seen a Squid myself. It will be interesting to speak to an enkindled being such as yourself. Perhaps you could educate me on all your betentacled ways when we have the free time to do so?._" Kayline said with a smile, blinking her large mostly black eyes as Squalork's tentacled suit floated gently in the air.

"_I am not here to fraternize. Nor do I find the prospect of educating you on my "betentacled ways" to be a productive usage of my time. Ask a Hanar if you want to know more about the intricacies of having no bones._" She said, the shift in colouration of her body and her suit from the usual grey to a subtly agitated light red being the signal for this conversation to end.

"_I would that we all manage to get along well. It would be tragic for our cooperative spirit to fall apart because of our political differences._" Catalina said as she noticed Jean was about to reach for a refill for his E-cigarette before she telekinetically snapped the box shut and gave him a small wag of her finger and a coy little smirk.

"_After the mission Jean._" She said, prompting laughter erupted from the circle, Jean's face going red as he grimaced and mumbled beneath his breath.

* * *

Citadel Wards

"_Sorry to trouble you madam, but would you mind answering these questions for me._" Catalina said as she approached an Asari in the busy streets of the Wards, who at first seemed to react to the armoured figure with hostility, her telepathic abilities immediately put the Asari at ease as she was immediately put off guard by Catalina's mental abilities. Asari were often harder to work with than other species, their mind-melding meant that most had some familiarity with others probing into their minds. However, as luck would have it, Catalina came upon a maiden who really lived up to the name and had never engaged in any intimate mind melding with anyone. Quite fortunate, as she had spent hours filtering through various people trying to get someone who knew what they were talking about.

"_Yes I would be happy to answer them._" She said, her attention now fully devoted to the taller Catalina who folded her arms as her psychic suggestions took hold in the Asari's mind.

"_Have you seen any suspicious activity that you believe might be, gang related?_" She asked calmly, a certain sweetness in her voice.

"_There's plenty of that in this neighborhood. There's a Salarian mobster by the name of Venger. He's got this place in his grip and has run the small time gangs out of the area._" She said, seeming to be perfectly relaxed as she even offered Catalina a smile.

"_Venger is his name then? What sort of operation does he run? Just around the neighborhood or something more?_"

"_He's got a network with feelers all across the galaxy since he took over his gang from the Betanax running it three years ago_." She said as she folded her arms behind her back.

"_Where do his men gather the most._" She asked, refraining from making much in the way of gestures.

_"In that apartment bloc over there by the neon sign advertising the technical institute._" She said, pointing to the building with an outstretched finger, Catalina's gaze following the finger to its target. It was like many places in this part of the citadel; not entirely the nicest looking place. Even with labourists and social democrats in charge of the citadel assembly having the wards cleaned up, the architecture was likely always going to look ugly to Catalina's eyes, and the reliance on lights instead of telepathic signals to display all manner of messages made her squint with scorn. It was a largely rectangular building that rose high into the purple sky, well above the area where the Citadel's atmosphere extended. True to the Asari's word, it was indeed right next to a sign that advertised some new university campus founded on the citadel, a Virtualan's mechanical mug looming over a friendly reminder that the offices were open for registration for the next semester. The white background only served to make its brightness all the more obnoxious for Catalina who grimaced as she looked back at the Asari.

"_Thank you for your cooperation, now please do forget what we were discussing_." She said as she turned the Asari around and let her go off on her way as she called in the rest of the team.

"+_I have the information that we need._+" She said cooly into her commlinks with the other members of the squad.

"+_Alright, thanks! We'll be meeting in the safehouse to plan our raid. Jasmine's also gotten food for us if you want any._+" Joachim cut in over the comms.

"+_What kind of food?_+" She asked, internally fearing that the genetically augmented archer's tastes were incompatible with everyone else's.

"+_Mostly a bunch of seafood. There's sushi if you want it!_+" He responded, chipper and cheerful as ever.

"+_Hrmm...yes that sounds good. I'll be there right away._+" She responded, taking one last scope of the building and noting the Raloi who walked inside after a brief conversation with one another as she turned to head for the designated safehouse, her legs bringing her along at a brisk pace.

* * *

Safehouse

"_So we can all agree then, Catalina goes in first through the front door, she can have her mind reach out and try and figure out how many other people are inside. Me and Jasmine, now see we're the precision people so we'll take up favorable shooting positions here and here. The building's been emptied of civilians by Venger a while ago, and we've gone and had the property's deed purchased so as long as we confine the destruction to just the building, we should be fine on the property damage front. So feel free to bring out the big guns. Far as I can tell, from our scouting ops, they've got some big ass guns on their side, so you could hold back if you want to, but then I'd bet you'd be dead pretty fast._" Garrus said, pointing to vantage points some twelve meters above their target, with both on opposite ends of the street and their positions arranged carefully so that they could cover the area and provide overlapping fields of fire. Chopstick fulls of dextro-grain and raw marine life finding themselves inside of his mouth whenever he wasn't speaking after being dipped in some sauce.

"_I am not particularly fond of these overkill tactics when we could usurp their control of the facility through more subtle means._" Squalork said, her envrio-suit's tentacles waving over the holographic map as her giant eyes studied the details closely. She herself simply has the food placed into a porthole near her beak for it to be snapped up and devoured as a Squid would traditionally devour the raw flesh of fish, her beak's snaps being disguised by the water and the confines of her suit.

"_Better to have overkill and not need it than to bring underkill and need more firepower, Earth-Clan. In any case, we would need a sudden, violent raid to ensure none of them get out. A more subtle method would take longer, and we'd risk some of them slipping our grasp._" Val Goran said as he noted Squalork's own position near Catalina's entry point.

"_The creepy tentacle lady should hang around close in case we need her telepathic support. Joachim's and I are close ranged specialists so we'll make sure to stay within ten meters of Catalina. Nihlus will find another way in while they're all distracted by our entrance_." Marcia said, still not exactly comfortable with the rest of her company and shifting a bit in her seat to make that clear as she looked back and forth from the map and to the rest of the crowd, her eyes being particularly focused on Brazag.

"_I'd suggest that Anderson move with Kayline and Samara. Take the backdoor and storm through the rear. Val and Jean should set up defenses to make sure none of them make good on any escape plans, while we'll hold Brazag and Xegus in reserve, both to guard Val and Jean and to enter through the sides if we need the extra firepower. I want you two to try and be as hidden as possible, don't reveal yourselves unless necessary._" Catalina said, moving everyone's icons into her vision of where everyone ought to be for her storming of the complex.

"_I've already told C-Sec agents I know are clean to keep the area clear of civilians. It should be a clean break in and entrance._" Nihlus said, making his closest possible approximation of a smirk.

"_With heady excitement: I vote that we stop the small talk and get "down with this". Let's see if anyone of them will be getting out in one piece._" Xegus said, letting out a deep, rumbling chortle that was felt more than it was heard.

"_You had better leave something for me to break. I couldn't find a Museum or a dance club that would let me in and I'm starting to get cranky._" Brazag grumbled.

"_Try to contain your frustrations until you find the proper place to release them. It would be unbecoming of you to let loose in here._" Samara said, her legs folded as she looked up at the towering behemoth, still fully encased in his thick cybernetic armorsuit.

"_Feh, not like people need me unless they want something crushed anyway. I'll wait, don't you worry your small blue ass woman._" Brazag said, the lights that roughly marked where his eyes were looking at in his visor turning squarely to Samara.

"_I would recommend you some meditation techniques to calm your temper, but I have reason to doubt that you would take me up on them. Yuri seems as if he were someone who would prefer you to be in as irritated a mood as possible._" She said with a calm smirk.

"_You'd be surprised._"

"_Don't worry Brazag, I think they'll need you soon enough. This is a combat op after all. Just try not to start an international incident with the collateral damage."_ Jasmine said as she counted her arrowheads, busily fitting special warheads onto some of them. Most would be simple magnetically and mass effect assisted armour piercing superheated arrows, but she made sure to place all manner of specialist heads on them. EMPs, HEAT rounds, knock out gas, fuel air explosive, even dissolver energy all found themselves placed on her weapons.

"_Far be it from me to start questioning how people in the dominion work but a bow and arrow seems just a bit dated to my sensibilities. I mean, what do I know right? I'm just a Turian who wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near the Purple bloc unless the council dragged me there kicking and screaming. But haven't we left the medieval era?_" He asked, busily calibrating his favoured sniper rifle to get just that little bit more accuracy out of it after checking his mods to make sure he had all the specialist rounds he needed. He almost seemed to relish the glare Jasmine gave her, as if daring the purple eyed supersoldier to do something about it.

"_Launched by a normal human? Yes an arrow has no place in the field, even with a power suit a normal person does not have the reflexes to compete with gunfire. I'm not a normal human, if you have suddenly developed any cases of blindness and haven't realized that._" She said with confidence in her voice, gesturing to her well developed musculature and stretching her legs to emphasize her added height.

"_Well the thing is those arrows of yours take up a lot more space than my mass accelerator rounds. I'll could keep on firing until the heat death of the universe while you'll either need to carry enough quivers to supply a dozen rennaisance fairs or you'll be running dry faster than a Krogan who's gotten out of an Epsilon gene clinic._" He said, laughing at his own joke, soon joined by the rest of the group, with even Catalina letting out a little chuckle.

"_I don't need a huge supply of ammunition to do my job Garrus, you of all people should know that. Besides, a Krogan would need hours to properly deplete his testi-_" She said before Squalork grunted to inform the two that she would rather that this conversation end immediately.

"_Working with Epsies doesn't sit quite right with me._" Marcia said, glancing at the Epsilonists over the table. The Dominion always was a boogeyman in the news she consumed, another Krogan Rebellion waiting to happen, only the Krogan didn't really have much in the way of genetecists at the time. To be sitting in a room with this many headgamers though...that was certainly something she hadn't seen herself doing, not without being called in to partake in what she'd been raised to believe was going to be the next big Galactic war.

"_With Some Sympathy: As far as I am concerned, it is not the greatest of partnerships either. Trying to see the Silver Lining: It is better than us shooting each other at least. With Apprehension: However I feel that it would be best for me to keep my distance._" Xegus said, the Elcor shuffling a bit after she shoveled in a massive amount of seaweed into her mouth. The bites she was taking were bigger than the entirety of the meals of most of the other people in the room, and yet she seemed to just be getting started.

"_To be entirely honest I'm not entirely fond of being around this place myself. I can hear all the suspicions of this place, every fear driven thought from the citizens who see me. You seem so enamored of your material things like the Alliance. It's displeasing._" Catalina said with a frown, clearly displeased as she put...yes that would be black pepper on her Sushi, which quickly got Joachim's attention as he squinted and then looked at her with a somewhat astonished face as she chowed down on the fatty tuna flesh and sticky rice.

"~_You put pepper on your Sushi?_~" He asked her telepathically, seeming almost concerned. After all... "~_Who does that_~?"

"~_I prefer a little zest Joachim_.~" She responded with a small wink which was met with a little grin and a faint blush from Joachim.

"_You clearly have not met the Kahje-clan then. Though I'd wager they'd find talking with an Earth-clanner more distressing than enlightening_." Val Goran said with a deep inhalation of air at the end of his sentence, taking a quick look at his gun and slapping in some last mods onto his combat shotgun.

"_As enlightening as this conversation is, I believe that now everyone has their places, I think it's about high time we got this raid underway. Finish up your food and get ready to deploy in ten miinutes._" Anderson said, to the general agreement of everyone else in the room.

* * *

"Zendros" Apartment Complex

Catalina was the first one inside the complex, her arm cannon already furled out of her suit and her hair kept in that distinctive pony-tail flowing from the helmet, the nano-fiber covering over it taking its silver huge and making it a distinctive platinum. Immediately she reached her mind into the facility's inhabitants to quickly gauge what she'd be facing and to scout out the area even before she entered. She determined that the facility's guards were facing away from the door, busy having a chat about some other intruder and allowing her to quickly kick in the door. Her arm cannon hand projected outwards, leveled straight at everyone in front of her and bathed the area in a cone of psychically generated blue coloured flame wider than she was and hot enough to flash boil most metal, quickly incinerating those enemies of hers caught in her way as the air roared from its ignition.

"_What the hell!?_" One of them shouted, jumping back from the sudden flare of heat as a salarian mobster fumbled around to try and get his submachine gun into play. Catalina never gave him that chance however, as she struck him with a telekinetic vise. For a time the kinetic barriers held back Catalina's crushing force, but only for a time; his shields failed with a flash and he could feel his heart being crushed into a pulp as her telekinetic grip easily slid through gear and his body and then closed around the organ with a force great enough to make him vomit out blood before he fell over; having died instantly.

"_A psychic!_" Another with panic in his voice joined in before she raked her shielding with a series of telekinetically augmented mass driver rounds; compensating for the inferior mass effect generators by telekinetically hurtling them forward with the psychic focusing devices in her arm cannon; not stopping until it shattered from the rapid fire blast. Before she could recover she psychically gripped his neck and snapped the Turian's spinal column like a twig, sending her twitching to the floor while her arm cannon gave them all a quick surprise in the form of a mini-missile fed into the weapon from a reverse engineered shrink field; the projectile rocketing out of her arm cannon and slamming into a Salarian busily trying to clear his eyes of the blindness induced by the bright flames; splattering bits of him across the room while her arm cannon went into suppressive fire mode; vaulting over a desk knocked to the side by her missile with a seamless motion, her superhuman body almost seeming like a blur as she landed behind an astonished Raloi and quickly kicked back hard enough to send the Raloi flying into a wall with bone snapping force.

As others in the room tried to get to grips with her, she extended her left hand and a telepathic suggestion took hold in the minds of many of them, bringing them to a sudden stop as they briefly forgot why they were even here; a brief amnesiatic effect excellent for quickly buying someone time to breathe in the midst of a firefight. She savoured their confusion before she beckoned them a little closer with her gauntlet's left hand; a psychic suggestion taking hold in their minds as she then whispered "Sleep well" into the ears of one of them; a human who seemed like she was a bit too young to be involved in gang work. In an instant, those she had telepathically asserted her control over felt a great surge of mental exhaustion and searched for the nearest comfortable places to sleep; immediately removing six enemy combatants from play. However, she hadn't counted on five Turians coming from upstairs. She sneered, Turians were always quite resilient to tricks like that; their minds were made of very stern stuff . She lacked the ability to immediately control them and the light machine guns they had in their hands were going to be a problem if she wanted to get through here.

"_Stop right there bitch, we've got you right where we wa-_" Five Turians shouted before a sinister voice in their mind began to overwrite their own thoughts, feeding their bodies commands and information that weren't initially theirs. While Catalina didn't have the skill to quickly mind control five Turians, Squalork was a master of mind control and her older mind was well suited for feeding commands into the heads of her enemies. Perhaps they would break free eventually, but for now she had them under her spell. With one of her new commands forming as thoughts inside of their heads, she had them turn on their allies with their LMGs and open fire at more enemies coming down the stairs; dead bodies quickly piling onto the stairs as kinetic barriers and hardsuits failed in quick succession from the heavy suppressive fire.

"_~Thank you Squalork.~_" Catalina said over her telepathic link as she gave a signal for Marcia and Joachim to follow her inside, the two vaulting through a window that exploded into shards from the two's weight slamming into it. From their left came a pair of drell; twin SMGs in their hands filling the room with mass accelerator rounds as Marcia grimaced; flinching back into cover as the Drell tried to keep the group pinned down. She dared to take a look and swore when she saw a third Drell emerge from the elevator with a grenade in hand. She'd have to deal with this one herself she figured; as Joachim brought up a telekine barrier to try and absorb some of the incoming shots.

"_Hold on, I've got this. Drop that barrier a bit._" She said, the distorted air stopping with Joachim moving out of the way as she powered up the sonic-weapon attachment on her assault rifle and let loose incredibly loud and incredibly concentrated sonic energy that slammed into the three. As sound transferred energy through the air, their kinetic barriers offered some protection from the concussive force of the sonic weapon, but nothing could save their ears as they doubled over in pain before falling unconscious, thankfully before Marcia decided to outright kill them with an organ rupturing sonic blast. She paused for a second, and when she saw another elevator opened; she opened with a flashbang grenade this time, letting the Category Six mercs come a bit forward before the explosive detonated in their faces and left them shouting and flailing from their blindness; a second sonic stun grenade being thrown; the mercenaries too dazed and confused to see the bomb before it beeped and let out an earsplitting shriek to knock the afflicted unconscious; dealing with another five enemy combatants.

"_Not all of us need psychic party tricks to K.O people, or char grill potential suspects._" She said, briefly glaring at Catalina before she flicked her eyes across the room for more enemies.

"I doubt we will need them all alive. Just the ones who know what's what with their gang." Catalina said with a smirk beneath her helmet, her mind scanning through the facility. Yes, she felt a significant number of targets in here she thought. She sent a psychic signal to Anderson, telling him it would be best to come in from the rear door under Jasmine's auspices while her team and Garrus dealt with the front side, and nodded when she received a psychic affirmation before refocusing her mind back into the here and now. She sensed about...seven enemies coming from the right; feeling their thoughts through the wall, and then gave a signal to Joachim to deal with them.

"_Aw don't knock it, Psychic tricks are pretty cool._" Joachim said with a grin, his dissolver gun clicking to life as he tore open a hole in the wall to his right with a telekinetic yank; ripping out chunks of prefabricated building material and then sprayed wide angled dissolver weapon fire into the newly formed hole. As an energy weapon, the transluscent green and yellow power of the dissolver beam; descended from the weapons fitted onto the likes of floating discs and shadow tanks; could not be blocked by kinetic barriers, and the magnetic shielding that they had wasn't quite strong enough to stop the beam from doing its sinister work. Inorganic materials glowed and ran like water while flesh rapidly transformed tranluscent and green like gelatin, bones blackening beneath the rapidly liquefying flesh as those struck screamed in horror as they literally melted into glowing heaps on the floor. Shouts of surprise from the survivor came from those on the other side before Joachim hurled the chunks of the wall he had floating around him with enough force to send those hit flying head over heels; those not yet knocked out by the impact then being grabbed by Joachim's mind and then smashed headfirst into the ground to make sure they stayed down.. With enemies confirmed to the right, the mind controlled turians filed over to try and deal with anyone in the way and buy them some additional time.

"_Man did you see that? Seven targets taken out in five seconds!_" Joachim said, beaming beneath his helmet.

"_Don't get too confident Joachim. We have a lot of clearing out to do before we can celebrate._" Catalina said, patting him on the shoulder before reaching her mind out once again.

"_~Squalork, get inside. I need you to help me run psychic interference while we're clearing the facility.~_" She said, getting an affirmative quickly from Squalork as she scanned through the room, relatively spartan and certainly not the best decorated of rooms, the grey facility seemed to only promise her more grey interrupted by the glaring intrusion of all manner of neon lights and the very occasional splotches of additional colour on the wall, making her scour inside as she started on running up the room, followed by her two companions.

She paused a bit as she sensed the number of enemies waiting for them on the other side of the door. "_Shit we can't get through here, there's too much firepower on the other side._" Catalina said, shaking her head as she hesitated, her mind awash with enemy thoughts.

"_What do we do?_" Joachim asked, worry on his face that they were stopping their advance this soon already.

"_We get help._" Catalina said with a smile beneath her helmet.

"_~Garrus do you have visual on enemies on your side?~_" She said through her link with Garrus despite him having asked her to use Voxlinks due to finding mental links "creepy and just all kinds of wrong."

"_~Yeah I've got them. Mind telling me why I can't feel much of anything in your head? Thought these mind links were a two way street?~_" Garrus said as he lined up his shots.

"_~I'm not letting you see what's in my head I'm afraid.~_" She said with a small mental chuckle as Garrus lined up his first target. From his vantage point in a nearby building he could see right through the windows and into the other side of the door that had Catalina worried. He spotted a large number of enemies and at least two doors that opened into hallways that could feed in extra troops, one parallel to the room and the other perpendicular to it. The room was pretty large, probably meant for some more upper class tenants before the Platinum rings took over, he figured. He counted a large number of hostiles; at least twenty of them and with the way they were coming in and out he had some trouble getting a precise count. Still, he had to make his shots count.

He zeroed in on one of his targets, an Asari mercenary. The Asari seemed to be shouting rather angrily, probably the second in command of her squad, which meant that she was a priority target. With a squeeze of his trigger, a small but powerful slug was sent rocketing through the air, propelled even faster by a laser that slowly burnt the back end of the round to propel it forward like a rocket to let it attain speeds that were obscene even for mass accelerators. The Asari never even had time to register that she had been shot, she simply dropped to the floor, never getting a chance to raise her biotic barriers and Garrus was already finding his next target, taking out the chest of a Batarian with a double tap to deal with his shields and then his torso who hadn't yet noticed that his friend had been shot and sending him falling over too, a small hole being punched in his chest as Garrus took out a Volus manning some of the drone defenses, one shot against his shielding and another single shot through his pressurizer leaving him to suffocate and depressurize rapidly and bleed from the soup Garrus made of his internal organs.

"_~You've got three targets clear, take out that Betanax at the door quickly before she can move away from it.~_" Garrus said as he lined up his next shot, taking aim to try and suppress anyone in the hallway; claiming a mohawk'd human as his next victim as he simply shot him through the back of the head.

"_Figures that most of these gangbangers probably don't have gear worth a damn. Oh well, that's what you get for buying your shields from El Sleezo's used armour emporium. "The only armour shop that can guarantee you will never ask for a refund", yeah that sounds about right for these kinds of lowlifes._" Garrus said, largely to himself with a little laugh as he fired again to take out another human he saw with a grenade launcher in hand, smacking the man against the wall and letting his blood leave a print as his corpse slid down.

"_~Affirmative Garrus, I'm in position, keep up your support.~_" She said in acknowledgement.

"_No one gets past this door, not even if they've got a whole fuckin' army behind them. I want at least five of you braindead maggot fodder to find that fucking sniper and kill the-_" A Betanax said, hefting a particularly large heavy weapon in her hands to about her hip before Catalina sensed that she was relatively close to the door. Quickly taking out her Broadsword with a single practiced motion, she stabbed it through the door like a hot-knife through butter, the telekine enhanced dissolver sheathed blade carving through everything in its way; including the Betanax's armor as if it were nothing, piercing through her heat and then being cut upwards to cut her head in half before Catalina drew the blade back in.

"_Joachim, you head in first._" She said, gesturing to the youth who gave her an enthusiastic nod and two thumbs up before telekinetically moving his weapons into position, the eerie, theremin esque sound of his dissolver charging up becoming increasingly apparent as its strangely coloured energies built up. Just then, Joachim smashed into the room, literally crashing the door down and flicking the beam into wide angled position, the cone of energy leaping out and just about instantly liquefying the first few targets in his way, four salarians and two humans screaming as they were reduced into puddles as Joachim charged in with a loud battle cry of "FOR THE GREAT MASTER YURI!" amplified and distorted by his helmet in an attempt to make him sound more threatening.

Grenades from Marcia soon followed and made a mess of the planned ambush in the room before she let out a storm of Cryo-rounds that made popsicles out of a trio of batarians and Catalina herself met the first target she saw with a rapid fire set of slugs right to his head, the Betanax male dropping after Catalina thoroughly popped his skull, ripping through his shields and his helmet and his brainpan in rapid succession. Panning his scope over to the next room, Garrus saw a Virtualan approaching the window with a nasty looking shotgun in their hands, something Garrus never let him use as he fired an ionized plasma sheathe round from his sniper rifle, smashing through the window and crashing into the Virtualan whose body began to jitter from the sudden surge of energy put through them.

"_~At least one of you should check on one of the hallways, that way I can concentrate on one of them and we'll be just dandy unless they've got every bottomfeeder from Omega pouring on through here.~_" Garrus said as he took another shot at a Mech trying to get a light machine gun into firing position before a scrambler round from the sniper put the jittery, skinny machine out of action as electricity rippled through its body and sent the machine crumpling in a heap.

"~_Roger that. Why don't we show these humans how the Hierarchy cleans out some trash?_~" Marcia said as she laid herself down in a position to place an attachment onto her assault rifle that significantly lengthened it into a proper general purpose machine gun and then replaced the barrel with a wider one to make it into an outright heavy machine gun; the multigunner systems of the weapon shifting almost like a living being; unfurling bipods and laying it on a quickly deployable set of cover. Much like the instant sandbags and barricades used by and Guardian by the Allies years ago, these panels would give her both protection and added stability; and even came with systems to augment the recharge of her kinetic and ray shielding. While still being tested by the Hierarchy, this new tech was already proving to be one of her favourites.

"~_Are we really up for more of these nationalist pissing contests? I'd rather wait for the next big international sports events before we all try to measure dicks myself._~" Garrus said as he took aim down the corridor.

"~_Always a good time to show up some fascist freaks._~" Marcia said, perhaps unaware that Joachim and Catalina could hear them since they were sharing the telepathic bond, Joachim giving Marcia an icy glare before Catalina put a hand on her shoulder and directed his attention to enemies coming down the other hallway, seemingly lead by a Krogan battlemaster and a heavy mech of all things.

"~_We'll talk about that with her later Joachim. Stay focused please._~" Catalina said as they prepared for the incoming onslaught.

"_You've got a death wish do ya? Coming here is going to be the last mistake any of you idiots made._" The Krogan said as he tapped his hammer's head into his extended hand, his eyes staring out of the blood red lenses on his crested helmet. Wearing a thick and heavy battlesuit even by Krogan standards, the Battlemaster's thunderhammer looked big enough to total a Whiplash light tank in a single blow. The head wasn't particularly big, only bad fantasy fiction had warhammers packing those kinds of sledgehammer heads, but it quickly crackled to life with energy born of Tesla technology. Sometimes, Catalina found herself cursing that man as much as she thanked him for basically creating the very foundations of modern society with his invention of MCV technology, practicable energy weapons, supermagnets, and more. This was one of those times as the battle master pointed the spearlike tip at the front of the warhammer forwards and energy surged across the weapon to release itself in a devastating blue-white bolt.

She felt a heavy impact, her magnetic shields flaring up as she was thrown back by the Tesla bolt as the collision of the electricity and the magnetic field resulted in a small shockwave that picked her off her feet and hurled her with enough force to hit her back into the wall with enough force to leave an indentation. She felt an ache through her body as she peeled herself off the wall, her suit and her reflexive telekinetics compensated for the impact which was further softened by her superhuman physiology, but she was definitely hurting from that. Through biokinetics she willed the pain receptors in her body to stop for a moment and let her get a good bead on her enemy as the battlemaster approached slowly, hammer in both hands as she could hear...someone shouting.

"_Interrogator!_" She finally registered the shout as Joachim ducked into cover to the side. She blinked as she looked at the lad raise a hand towards her and then felt a yank at her body as he grabbed her telekinetically and essentially reeled her into his grasp, a thud telling her that they had impacted together as he let loose a rapid fire trio of dissolver beams down the corridor, the distinctive report of the beam; little different from that of the floating disc; echoing down the room as machine gun fire...and fuck were those particle beams? She blinked and saw a pale green stream of highly charged particles lancing down the aisle, missing her head by a few centimeters as her ability to detect thoughts warned her of the intent to fire and let her duck to the side. _Who the fuck_ is outfitting this gang?

Judging by the frequency of beam shots she figured they couldn't have more than a pair of them, but still, that kind of firepower bode ill. She had to extend her mind outwards, she sucked in a breath of air through her helmet's filtrator and cast her thoughts outwards. The horizons of her senses expanded and she could "feel" the world around her, surface thoughts audible to her in every direction as she engaged this sixth sense of hers. Joachim switched out his dissolver weapon and brought out a gatling mass accelerator, but her mind's focus was not on her sense of hearing. She reached out to all those technically under her authority and transmitted to them the full breadth of what she was seeing here, letting them use her own eyes as she redoubled the psychic link.

With the task done, her mind was now able to focus back on the material world, where scarcely a few seconds had passed as Joachim's gatling gun revved up. Like all of Yuri's gatling gun technology, the weapon started out with a fast rate of fire to be sure, but it would only get faster and faster the longer the weapon fired as hot metal streamed out of the micro-gatling almost like a bullet laser; repeatedly being swept across the hallway to suppress everyone inside. To be sure, the enemies coming through were in no real rush to try and face such an output of lead, and it took the battlemaster bringing up an extended biotic barrier paired with a magnetic field generated by his hammer to get them to regain their courage as he let out a growl of discontent.

"_What are you louzashit weaklings afraid of?! Throw those deployable barriers and get advancing. They're psychics, get them distracted or I'll shove your guns so far up your asses you will speak in bullet point."_ He shouted in his deep baritone voice as those mobsters and mercenaries under his command hurled a series of deployable kinetic barriers to give them some additional cover and let them rush forward; moving from defensive point to defensive point to put the two humans under threat as Catalina joined in on Joachim's gatling fire with a rapid series of pyrokinetic bursts, her helmet's "third eye" and her arm cannon working in tandem to smother the area in blue flames as the Krogan smirked beneath his helmet, almost laughing at how delighted he was to be in a fight like this as Epsilon's finest held their ground.

On the other hallway, Marcia's gun let rip with a sound distinctly like that of a lawn mower as she swept her heavy weapon from right to left. Few of them dared to try and advance through the withering gaze of a heavy machine gun, the first few who tried it weren't struck down so much as they were messily torn apart as kinetic barriers cracked in quick order followed by hardsuit plating and flesh never meant to withstand such force. Chunks were torn out of the wall as any bullet that missed its target sailed into the masonry behind the targets and trivially ripped through more fragile materials such as mirrors and lights; the sound of shattering glass filling her ears as she could smell the blood of at least a half dozen different species through the olfactory receptors in her helmet. Grunting, she mentally commanded the sensors to turn off...the stench of death was going to be a distraction when she needed focus.

Her HUD informed her of heavy shield drain occuring to the left side of her deployed cover and she flicked her eyes to the location of the damage then quickly realized that they had something carrying a laser weapon, but she wasn't able to see anything herself. "~_Garrus I've got some spirits-cursed invisible fucker dinging up my magnetic barriers. Please tell me those fancy marksman gadgets of yours can see something from that nest your cooped up in._~" She said through the telepathic link, clearly unhappy about her current predicament as she saw someone with a rocket launcher and breathed out a "shit" as she had to wait for her gun to cool down; retrieving a submachine gun from its holster to spray the area with a bit more fire as her HUD blurted warnings about how unsafe it was to use her main gun right at this moment.

"~_Yeah I see him._~" Garrus said as he picked off the Rocket launcher toting Salarian, the kick of his gun being met with the rewarding sight of someone dropping to the ground with a hole in them. He picked up a MECH of some sort, vaguely asari shaped wielding some laser weapon hooked up to a backpack generator. While backing away to cool down, he was definitely threatening even Marcia's heavy shielding and deployable cover plating. Well, it would be very rude of Garrus to continue to let the MECH be a bother as he waited for the machine to poke its head out of a barely opened door to get an LMG sized weapon aimed down at Marcia just as she got her gun going again, tearing down a trio of mobsters trying to rush her; their bodies virtually pulped by her heavy firepower.

With the squeeze of a trigger, Garrus sent a quick double tap down the range. The first struck the machine, afflicting its barriers and the second struck it right in the focusing lens of its laser weapon. The machine got off a shot alright, but the now disrupted and probably illegally modified laser weapon sent forth the energy through its systems only to find that it was now wielding an improptu and very much unsafe scatter laser. Unfortunately, a number of vital components, such as the illegally acquired tiberium amplifier, ended up going critical and caused the whole system to explode with the force of a fairly sizeable bomb, tearing the MECH into scrap and throwing the door it was hiding behind off of its hinges and flying forward with enough force to clothesline a half dozen enemies trying to move forward under the protection of a biotic's projected barrier and knock them onto the ground with broken bones and a nasty concussion, outright taking the head off of a Betanax in the process.

The result made Marcia flinch and cringe as she prepared for the door to hit her before it ended up lodging itself into a nearby wall as it bounced through the hall way, and made her let out an oath to the spirits of palaven as she realized that she wouldn't be in need of a hospital trip this time.

"~_Shit Garrus did you have any idea that was going to work?_~ She said.

"~_To be honest, no. Thought it'd be a good bet that they'd be dumb enough to cut some corners on safety to increase weapon power. Guess we're lucky to fight guys with more credits than sense, huh?_~" He said with Marcia getting the sneaking suspicion that he was actually deeply enjoying this.

"~_Spirits around us, give me some warning next time?_~" Marcia glowered, understandably upset that he tried something that he wasn't even sure was going to not kill her without warning her.

"~_My bad, I'm just a bit unused to this whole "you don't need to maintain radio silence" thing, it's just a bit weird on my end._~" He said right before their conversation was interrupted by the deafening booms of door breaching charges to reduce the bottlenecking potential of the area, an alarmingly large number of AENEAS infantry mechs with more professional looking organic hostiles packing much meaner looking gear than those before them pushing on through the new holes in the T-intersection that the hallway lead to and immediately laying down a storm of heavier firepower on the group.

Catalina found herself pressed into close combat following a biotic charge from the Krogan that she barely managed to avoid with her psychic forewarning that informed her of his intentions in combat. Not good, the Krogan was much larger than she was and his thunderhammer was an extremely deadly instrument. What's more is that the Battlemaster was fast and skilled, far more so than he had any real right to be. She had an edge in raw speed, but it was mostly her sense of forewarning that allowed her to have any kind of advantage in reaction time. The first hammerswing, a heavy downward blow, was avoided with a sidestep; the crackling weapon humming with power as it missed her by but a few centimeters, and when she responded with a quick thrusting motion from her blade he managed to bring his hammer around and deflect the blade's angle off to the side, the screeching of energy fields colliding giving way to a thunderclap as the two weapons essentially repelled each other and forced her into a spin. Her senses quickly warned her of something incoming; a fist wreathed in blue biotic energy came at her from the left in a jabbing motion, moving like a comet that would have been essentially imperceptible to an unaugmented human eye as it sped towards her head, only a quick movement to the right while her back was turned letting her avoid the impact, displaced air making a whoosh sound like she was near a pneumatic cannon as it passed by her helmet's audio sensors while she turned around to get a bead on her enemy again.

The Krogan had his battle hammer holstered on his side again, the telescopic handle retracting, they were too close for the long weapon to be utilized with much finesse and he kept up his attacks with a pair of jab punches aimed with the skill of a professional boxer and moving with enough speed and force to cave in steel like cardboard. She took a few steps back as the Krogan tried to hem her in, their action taking place in the space of seconds as she felt a sense of satisfaction from her opponent when a violent force pushed his fist upwards and then back downwards for a hammer fist blow. Telekinesis she thought, and he had managed to misdirect her ability to sense his intent, boxing her in without an easy way to avoid the impact and she grunted with pain when she felt the heavy blow on her right shoulder as his fist came down like a hammer, her barriers still not fully recovered. Her suit plaintively warned her of the impact to her as he moved in closer while she let out a pant, the ache of the blow giving way to a sense of wetness that informed her that she was bleeding before the suit dispensed medigel to try and patch her up as she made ready for his next assault. Her eyes caught him grabbing at his hammer; summoning the hammer telekinetically.

She quickly twisted out of the way of his second Tesla bolt, then forced herself to duck beneath his incoming side swing and pushed herself backwards to avoid an overhead swing that cracked and splintered the floor beneath them, the thunderclap of rapidly displaced air and the hammer's shockwave ringing in her ears as she skirted to the left of an incoming jab. But she had found herself deceived of his intentions again as the Krogan let out a small chuckle of satisfaction and opened his hands and pulled it back to wrap his fingers around her neck, his thumb going around her throat as she was lifted into the air and could feel him squeezing down with enough force to start strangling her even through her suit's neckguard. Lifting her into the air, the Krogan seemed content to just lay the squeeze on her as she choked, her vision went blurry and no coherent words were able to escape her mouth as she struggled to breathe. She tried to reach for Joachim to help her; trying to kick at her enemy only for a biotic field to keep her from getting the proper swing; but he had his own issues.

To keep Igorovich off his back, the battlemaster had kept his boys focused on him while he dealt with the inquisitor. He had swapped his weapon for a thermal beam emitter, much like what was used by the Antares batteries or by many anti-armor weapons. Sometimes nformally called a melta, the relatively short weapon let forth an orange and red stream of blazing energy to flash fry a series of light MECHs coming at him before their submachine guns proved to be any particular issue. Metal, plastic, and ceramics melted and boiled and left nothing more than superheated stumps to fall to the ground, the youth's other enemies wisely taking up cover as they waited for the extreme heat unleashed by the weapon and those it had just destroyed to dissipate before trying to pass through, but at least two of them were a bit too slow to get away from the heat and burned into a crisp from the energies awash in the area. However, the Centauri pattern personal thermal weapon had a number of issues the principle ones being a significant delay between shots to avoid overheating and the area of effect making it dangerous to use in close quarters.

This made things problematic when Asari Vanguards, upon their hardsuits telling them that the temperatures between them and Joachim had dropped to a level where they could pass safely; engaged Joachim with a biotic charge. Being a fresh face in the inquisition who had only seen limited actions against small criminal outfits before, Joachim had never been on the receiving end of a Biotic charge before; nevermind two of them. The first one was absorbed by his shielding and he managed to remain upright long enough to switch out for something more suited to close quarters combat, namely his plasma scatter weapon, but the second one threw him off his feet and sent him about a half dozen feet before his back introduced itself to the wall with enough force to splinter some of the building materials, a splintering noise informing him of the poor conditions of his shields even before a pair of Shotgun blasts struck at his abdomen and shoulder. It was to his fortune then, that his armour was made out of stern stuff and that shotguns were poorly suited for penetrating hard armor, as he felt only dull impacts and not searing pain.

He knew he had to keep them off him, and he quickly dug into his psychic energy; the "third eye" on his helmet glowing as he focused and then outstretched his hands to let forth arcs of deadly electricity. The vanguards jolted as they were struck; energy flowing through them and then bringing them to their knees as he began to overwhelm their magnetic defenses but an incoming rocket quickly forced the lad to turn his electricity towards the projectile to detonate it prematurely; giving one of the Vanguards enough time to recover and smash him into the ceiling and then throw him onto the ground with her biotics. Each impact was enough to shake the area and each loud impact made Joachim see stars as he brought up a telekinetic field to soften the descending impact a bit, but he was clearly in trouble and he knew it. He got off a plasma scatter-blast, knowing that while Plasma was perhaps not the most effective kind of weapon given that it could be stopped by kinetic barriers and the radiant heat diminished by other forms of shielding and by hardsuits; it would be difficult to dodge due to its speed and enough to drive his enemies off their feet while he tried to duck into cover to get away from the incoming barrage of fire.

"_Looks like it's me to the rescue._" Garrus said as he looked to the ground where the enemy forces keeping Marcia down was wet. With an idea already hatching in his devious mind, Garrus looked to see where it was coming from and positively grinned when he read the text on the pipe. "Salt water, bingo." He said, figuring that any building that planned on housing marine species like the documents on the structure said they would would have to have saltwater piping and finding himself glad that a hole had been punctured in the pipe by the crossfire. As Marcia grunted in pain from a bullet impact on her pauldron fired from a heavy assault rifle; keeping up the suppressive fire to try and stop more enemies from coming down the hallway, Garrus loaded in the electrified round mod for his sniper and fired a number of oversized rounds from his weapon. Each of them crashed through the windows with a little breaking sound and upon impacting the floor; extended prongs that dug into the wet floor and released their charges, giving only a small "beep" for warning.

Immediately, electricity surged through the wet floor, briefly stunning those caught by it, as their rubber boots and ceramic plating only did so much to insulate them from charges meant to short out heavy equipment. He then fired a regular shot into the water pipe, turning the trickle of water into a wide spray as the roaring water rushed outwards with a violent hiss and swept many of those caught by it off their feet and then fired twelve more shots that lodged themselves into the pipe and electrified the metal piping and then the saltwater spray itself. In an instant everyone caught by the water got the rudest shock of their lives and were soon falling over, stunned or dead.

With them taken care of, Marcia quickly undeployed herself and moved over to help the two Humans, sensing Catalina's instructions and quickly improvising a plan of her own attaching a grenade launching submod onto her weapon with a quick motion and letting out an EMP grenade that frazzled much of the equipment of the better armed enemies trying to deal with Joachim followed by a sonic stun grenade, scrambling their senses and letting her set up her heavy machine gun once more and letting rip, tearing through much of the Battlemaster's allies. Joachim; shaking his head and recovering his senses from another biotic charge and shotgun blast from an Asari Vanguard, noticed the woman turning her head around when she heard the carnage erupting behind her and took the time to get out and power up his shock-maul, setting the weapon to full. With a yell and a swing, he slammed the weapon's head into the Asari's helmet and sent her crumpling to the ground while electricity coursed through her, while the other tried to get a shot in only for a round from Garrus to quickly put her down to the ground with a hole in her head.

The Battlemaster sensed something wrong as he could feel many of his allies dropping dead, Catalina sending out an imploring message to Squalork to try and get the Squid's help as it ran interference wherever it could, and the Battlemaster's grip loosened as he sensed a psychic assault on his mind, snarling as he fought with the Squid's attempted mind control just long enough for Catalina to finally get herself close and slam her feet into the Krogan's stomach, forcing him to let go of her before she telekinetically seized him and launched him through several walls with a shout of anger, the Krogan letting out grunts of pain before he finally stopped flying several rooms down the line and flopped to the ground, likely with a concussion from his head first impacts.

"_Hah, too easy. Come on let's see an actual challenge._" He said as he got a brief glimpse of something big on the other side of a door just cracked open by some of the gangbangers and smirked.

"_Ah hello, let's see what we've got here._" Garrus said, relishing the callenge of such a small target as he got sight of a Turian preparing to fire some large looking rocket launcher down the hall.

"_No I don't think you'll be getting that shot today buddy. I've already taken mine and I'm just a bit stingy with range time._" He said as he let loose an armour piercing round, the slug barely losing energy as it punched through the window, a laser firing up and the gun locking into a steady position to keep the beam on track and then boosting the heavier slug; some eight times the size of the normal round; right through the wall and straight into the Turian's center of mass, dropping her instantly.

_"Now let's see what you've got._" He said as he aimed his "orphaner" rifle at some nasty looking Salarian in some heavy armour suit that was almost certainly heavily shielded against standard fire. Extremely heavy weapons fire forced everyone in the squad to the ground and diving for cover, Marcia taking a few rounds that clipped her side and sent her spinning and sprawling to the ground; thankfully behind some coveras sonic weapons quickly fired up to disrupt Joachim and Catalina's ability to form coherent thoughts, the both of them letting pained screams into the comms as they tried to shut out the overpowering noise.

Smirking, Garrus changed out the head of his weapon and fed in a larger heat sink and power pack, transforming it into an ultraviolet laser weapon. While not as popular with his due to the lower versatility of the DEW mode, the experimental weapon gave him an edge over those who only had kinetic barriers and physical armor to protect themselves, and with the crack of rapidly displaced air he let out his pulse against the Salarian, aiming for the power core.

As the other three busied themselves with finding whatever cover they could Garrus' weapon sliced through the guards around his enemy's power core and left the black market power suit almost immobile with a quick pulse against the now defenseless power core, forcing the pilot to abandon his suit and letting Garrus take him out with a follow up hit. A few further shots to poke holes in the heads of any enemy reinforcements ensured that they were all kept from ganging up on the three as they recovered, picking each other up and getting back into their positions.

By this point, a Betanax hefting some kind of rotary weapon was beginning to get suspicious and looked through the window, letting out a ferocious roar as he started the weapon up to life and peppered Garrus' vantage point with munitions after catching the glint of a sniper's scope through his goggles. Immediately hitting the deck, Garrus let out a complaining grumble before Joachim shorted out the Betanax's shield with a rapid telekinetic implosion and let Marcia turn him into a Popsicle with her Cryo-rounds, where a kick from Catalina was enough to shatter the foe into dozens of pieces.

"+_Just to let you know, you're welcome._+" Garrus said over the comlinks the second he popped out of cover, Catalina giving him a nod through the window to his position and getting a smirk out of him.

"_Man your sniper's awesone. Where'd he learn to shoot like that?_" Joachim said, looking at Marcia and grinning a mile wide beneath his helmet.

"_Terminus pirate raids are a hell of a teacher._" Marcia said as she poked her head out of the door to check the hall way, then immediately pulled it in when she found a number of shotgun wielding Asari armed with riot shields on the other side, a quickly breathed out uttering of "shit" coming from her mouth as she just barely missed the spray of metal fragments.

"_~Squalork, if you're ready, now would be the best time to help out a bit more~_" Catalina said, getting the crash of a window smashing in as the wall climbing squid launched herself through the windows, glass flying out in all directions as she let out a high pitched shriek at the surprised Asari. Two were grabbed by the squid's shorter arms with one of them having her brains chomped into by the squid's beak; which emerged from its porthole encased in armor and clamping down with enough force to cave in concrete like tissue paper. Two more were quickly pulled off their feet by the lashing tentacles of Squalork as she launched herself towards the ceiling with element zero assisted jets and telekinesis, avoiding the return fire of the Asari hall clearers and smashing a tentacle of hers into the ceiling to use it to swing herself forward and reach her tentacle towards the chest of another Asari; the tentacle wrapping around the Asari.

Now with the Asari in her grasp, Squalork let go of the ceiling and brought her other tentacle around another Asari, using her as an anchor to swing the held Asari into the rest of her squad to knock them to the ground, squealing all the while as everyone shouted in confusion before she dropped the Asari she first grabbed and yanked herself to the last Asari, a shotgun blast deflecting off of her shields and only briefly stopping her as she grabbed onto the Asari, restrained her limbs and quickly choked her into submission with her other arms. With the deed done, Squalork asserted her mental dominance over the still living Asari in their dazed states and commanded them forwards to meet up with her light machine gunners, quickly pulling herself up to the ceiling and "crawling" along it by application of vacuum force to suction herself onto the ceiling.

"_Spirits that is all kinds of not right._" Marcia said as she watched Squalork's new puppets quickly get to work for their master and then flicked her gaze to the crawling squid.

"_It's just a squid, jeeze._" Joachim said, not at all understanding why she found Squalork off putting.

"_Perhaps she's not very familiar with uplifted animals?_" Catalina said as she calmly followed Squalork and her minions through the building.

"_I tend not to trust anything without a backbone that can get inside my head that works for Earth's dearest dictator._" She said, prompting Joachim, Catalina, and Squalork to all turn towards her as if she had just insulted their mothers in the most grievous of ways.

"_Get a load of the blasphemer here guys._" Joachim said, his usually friendly tone replaced with something more akin to a sneer.

"_Oh get over it. I'm sure you've all said worse to the religions you've snapped up into your blobby cult._" Marcia said as the Epsilonists looked away from her in disgust.

"_We can talk theology later. But I strongly recommend that you hold your tongue, heathen; for the sake of our efficiency as an operating unit._" Squalork said with barely contained menace as she lead the way for the group with her puppets.

* * *

Anderson's team.

"_Keep pushing, they can't resist our firepower._" Anderson said as he calmly fed the enemies of Yuri a taste from his Micro-gatling gun. He would have preferred his Evolution gun something much like Rahn's signature weapon since the Mental Omega wars, but he knew that C-Sec would lose its shit if he brought a weapon meant for filling a room with genetic monstrosities into a populated space. With his armor and genetic enhancements letting him wield the twelve kilo rotary weapon with ease, he laid down the most withering storm of small assault rifle caliber rounds at a pair of Krogan from the six barrels of hell of his weapon, and the longer he fired the faster the weapon went until it essentially fired a beam of mass accelerator rounds. Even Krogan didn't fancy their odds against that kind of firepower and quickly ducked behind cover that Anderson's weapon was rapidly eating its way through before he turned it on the hallway behind the Krogan, immediately forcing the gangsters attempting to coming through to either hit the deck for what cover there was to be found or to flail uselessly as metal tore through them.

"_Kayline, get ready, I'll be lifting them out of cover._" Samara said, applying her biotic force to the two Krogan and forcing them to float in the air; surrounded by a purple energy field as Kayline brought out her twin twin-linked micromachine guns. The "fireworks" pistols weren't the easiest for the Drell girl to control, but the incendiery rounds were more than enough to put the Krogan's shields out of action and eat through their heads, making sure that they wouldn't get back up in a blood rage. Samara then refocused her biotic energy into a wall and then "pushed" the wall rapidly down the corridor, absorbing everyone's shots and picking up and hurling those caught quickly, leaving them open for Kayline, Samara and Anderson's hailstorm of rapid fire weapons.

"_Good work all of you._" Anderson said as he let his gun's screaming hot heat sync cool down for a bit as he quickly conjured forth a psychic illusion of some phantasmal beast and sent it before him to see who it picked up, nodding when panicked shouts came from two rooms down followed by equally panicked shots.

"_We aren't heading that way are we?_" Kayline asked, turning her eyes to Anderson, whose own face was hidden behind an armoured version of an Initiate's dress uniform mask, complete with an armoured peak cap. Perhaps not particularly practical, but he thought it looked pretty damn smart on him. He looked back at the Drell, her own face hidden behind the visor of her armax arsenal helmet.

"_Don't worry, we'll be taking a shortcut._" Anderson said avuncularly, signalling them to take a door into the bathroom in the hallway, the three of them filing in as the hostiles in the next room came to the realization that the phantasmal beast was of course, phantasmal.

"_It seems that our distraction won't hold them for much longer._" Kayline said, getting a feel for the emotions of the people in the next room.

"_Worry not, I'll give them something much bigger to worry about._" Samara said as she smashed down the entire wall with a biotic explosion and sent mobsters on the other side flying in all directions. Enemy rounds bounced off her biotic barriers and the ray-shielding that she picked up in her travels with Nihlus as the enemy quickly regained their senses. She knew that even with her powers it would be very foolish to simply stand there and absorb the kind of firepower she was taking, she could feel her barriers starting to splinter, and gritted her teeth with some effort. But she gave them all another surprise; a series of biotic orbs that quivered a bit as they gathered around the heads of three of the humans firing at her and then detonated with catastrophic force. Not enough of them remained to be scraped off with a spoon, but before Anderson and Kayline could take point they were immediately met with no less than four troops equipped with rocket launchers that all sent them throwing themselves back into cover in a hurry, fragments spattering their shielding and getting pained grunts out of them as they ducked down.

"+_Any luck with finding targets Jasmine?_+" Anderson asked, the sounds of gunfire already apparent on the other side of the commlinks.

"+_I'd go as far as to say that I've got myself a target rich environment Inquisitor._+" Jasmine said as she ducked behind the wall of an elevator's exit point to avoid the return fire of a number of Salarian snipers and the suppression fire of a pair of heavy machine guns and many more assault rifles and light machine guns. She listened for the shots to start to drift in another direction before popping out to let loose a superheated arrow into the chest of a Batarian manning a squad automatic weapon, the chatter of his mass accelerator stopping with the wet thud of an arrow stabbing through his chest and sizzling his organs into a well done crisp.

A Salarian sniper winged her chestplate with a round that made her jolt, but she got an arrow in return that stabbed into the frog's eye, making him hit the ground with a wordless thud and probably leaving him engaging in his body's dying gurgling and spasms. A brace of heavy machine gun rounds hit her not long after though, forcing her to the ground as her shields broke and a round managed to put a crack in her armor that was opened up by another round. Thankfully the round had largely expended itself, but blood was drawn from her nontheless as she felt a dull pain from her left thigh to warn her that she was injured. She grimaced as she laid there, her body's healing abilities working in conjunction with a dispension of medigel as she tried to recover.

"+_I'm pretty thoroughly pinned down here, need back-up ASAP._+" She said, seeming to be in far less pain than a normal human should be from an injury like that.

"+_Badassly: Did somebody request the cavalry?_+" That voice may as well have been music to her ears as the large form of Xegus came barreling out of a window; a biotic charge hurling her forward from a nearby building, trumpeting with glee as thrusters lifted her body the rest of the way into the flank of some very surprised looking heavy machine gunners, the Turians gasping in horror as they saw a power armoured Elcor sailing towards them like a well thrown brick, fists put out in front of her like some kind of superhero.

"+_Smugly: Ever wondered what sound a Turian makes when they get hit by a ton of Elcor?_+" She said midflight as she crashed through the window like it wasn't even there and smashed into the Turians at speeds to make an aerocar blush. No one in her way had armour or shielding rated to withstand so much mass going at that speed. Infantry scale kinetic barriers were never designed around the idea that maybe you might one day be hit by one tonne of Elcor wearing another tonne of power armor going at somewhere in the neighborhood of three hundred kilometers per hour. Such a concept was positively absurd, and so shields splintered like glass, armour ruptured like soup cans, and bodies splattered like tomatoes in a sound that could roughly be described as smacking cans full of tomatoes with a cannon ball with a mess on the walls that could be described in largely identical terms.

"+_With Triumphant Smugness: They sound rather like that._+" She said as she let out a single trumpeting roar at the surviving soldiers who panicked and ran before she yanked them back with a Biotic tug.

"_Playfully Scolding: No you can't leave just yet, we haven't even started to have fun._" She said as she grabbed one of the Batarian's skulls and popped it like a grape between her finger, helmet and all and gave a hammerfist blow that essentially smashed a BELLEREPHON infantry mech into its component disassembled pieces as essentially every point of failure in its body failed all at once; castings, weldings, ball joints, and more all failing and the crash and clatter of mech bits and pieces easily audible anywhere in the room.

"_With mocking playfulness: Come on, let us have some fun._" She said as the autocannon she kept mounted on her shoulder boomed to life. To make a long story short, those of the enemy mercenaries and mobsters who were hit made for a pleasant abstract painting on the walls and floors around them, while the missile launchers on her other shoulder gleefully sought out all available targets and cleared the room with the cherry red blossom of detonating munitions.

So caught up was Xegus in her havoc that she didn't seem to notice the four anti-tank troopers training their munitions on her, hoping to put an end to her before she could make anymore of a mess, but she didn't have to; as a trio of fuel air arrows landed between them and spread forth a cloud of dust and vapor with a small hiss before lighting up a spark with a click. Orange, red, black, and grey became the colours of the day as the anti-tank mercenaries were reduced to powder and scattered limbs, Jasmine noting the deaths of the rocket troopers with some satisfaction as she stood back up on her injured leg.

"+_With sincere thanks: My gratitude for dealing with them, Jasmine._+" Xegus said.

* * *

Nihlus

A hand shot out in the dark and gave a neck a firm twist and a snap, and a man slumped down down before he knew that he was even sharing a room with someone. Kept invisible by his stealth systems, Nihlus silently made his way through the room to get to his target, leaving nothing but a string of corpses behind him.

Another target presented himself, a barrier disruptor bullet followed by another round to his head put the Salarian out of his misery before he could even realize he was under attack. Their friend was kept distracted with a psychic suggestion, a message inside of their mind telling them that they should turn their attentions elsewhere. They turned away, and then a second suggestion asked them to drop their shields just long enough for Nihlus to put a bullet straight through their head; dropping them to the ground instantly.

Nihlus checked the hallway around the corner and found a half dozen mercenaries waiting to head down an elevator to try and exfiltrate from the building and knowing what was on the other side, Nihlus happily obliged them in their descent as he checked one of the apartments in the complex. Finding four mobsters busily attaching mods to their weapons, Nihlus decloaked only just long enough to show them his Ultraviolet pistol and with a quick sweep of the room, the lightly armoured Salarian gangsters had all perished from fatally deep incisions into their bodies.

Listening closely for what was on the other side, he could hear the muffled sounds of conversation on the other side of the drywall and stepped back to make a quick incision with his pistol, the mobsters starting to shout when they heard the wall sizzle before Nihlus gave them a surprise in the form of three grenades lobbed through the hole all at once. Panic was heard as he ducked into the bathroom for more solid cover, and then panic ceased with the whumpf of frag grenades exploding.

"+_Nihlus to Jean, have you secured the east side exit?_+" Nihlus asked once he determined there weren't enough of the enemy left standing to listen in on his conversation.

"+_Yeah, me and Val have this spot covered, don't you worry._+" Jean said, sounding entirely too relaxed for this kind of situation.

"+_You and Goran? What? You were supposed to cover different exits._+" Nihlus said with confusion and more than a hint of anger.

"+_Ah don't worry, he's got plenty of turrets watching that side of the building._+" Jean said as he waited for the ding of the elevator opening up to reveal to the horror of the exiting mecenaries that he and Goran had been waiting for them with a few remote charges that all exploded at once with a deafening boom that made mulch of the enemy squad as the two laughed themselves sick over some stupid joke.

"_Ah Goran you've got to see these stupid bastards. They'll come out of this side again, just you watch._" He said, wheezing between his sentences.

"_Hah, I don't know why these clanless felons are even bothering._" Goran said, almost falling over with laughter as a Salarian sniper tried to get a bead on Jasmine again only for Val Goran to spot him and surround the Salarian with a blue biotic field and drag him off his balcony.

"_Oh, oh, what sound do you think this Sur'kesh clan is going to make when he hits the ground?_" Val Goran said, almost giddy with laughter as the Salarian screamed in panic once he realized how far he was off the ground.

"_I'll say "crunch"_" Jean said, scratching at the chinplate of his helmet.

"_My money is on splat._" He replied, letting the Salarian fall to the ground face first with a bone crunching and sick sounding crunch of bone and the splatter of rupturing flesh as his spine bent in unnatural angles and his face took on the texture of poorly made pizza.

"_Shit, do we both pay each other?_" Jean breathed out with a curse.

"_Seems only fair, Earth-Clan._" Val Goran said with a chuckle while Nihlus could only sigh from his end of the line.

"+_Just make sure no one gets out without getting arrested or getting shot, alright? And try not to blow more hot air out of your asses an an Eureklua party._+" Nihlus said.

* * *

Brazag

Brazag was overjoyed to finally get his chance to make a mess out of everything he came across once Nihlus and Catalina agreed that it was well past time for him to get the call into action, thundering through the facility like some kind of giant as he stormed the basement. Rounds clattered off his shielding and his armor and soldiers died like so many insects before his weapons and his strength.

"_Bah, come on. Lab rats have more firepower than the lot of you._" Brazag grunted as he lowered his miniature Antares heat battery into firing position from his back, the weapon glowing red, then orange, then yellow before releasing a searing thermal beam in front of him that gave everyone in front of him an instant cremation as a low pulsing drone boomed over all over noises and swept across the room in a wide line, dried bone shards, ash, and ruined armour and what might have been weapons clattering to the ground.

The plasma cannon in his chest charged up with a high whine and soon spat forth a purple sphere of death to flash fry a group of salarians who got in his way as he slowly advanced forwards. With a click to switch its mode of fire, the chest cannon began spitting forth smaller Plasma orbs continually to keep everyone's heads down; each impact of the eerie purple plasma at first striking the shields of those hit but the raw heat only being diminished so much before the struck targets died or their shields were overwhelmed. Advancing without mercy as a soldier of his class should, he saw a human sprawled on the ground trying to crawl to some cover and raised an armoured foot before pressing it down on the Mercenary's skull and crushing her into a red splatter on the ground. Grinding his boot into the ground a bit, he briefly lamented that the nastier weapons at his disposal were barred from his usage by the agreements with C-space as he took a look around for who else there was to beat into the ground.

"_Stop him with anything you can! Hit him with everything you've got! Throw every MECH you've got at him!_" A Turian shouted as they all but flooded the room with a small army of AENEAS mechs whose submachine guns warranted so little concern from Brazag he didn't even bother with having his shields intercept their weapons, pushing through without a care in the world.

"_Yeah keep on throwing shit at me in the hope it sticks. Maybe if you assholes throw enough I can kill you all in one go and end this snoozefest._" He said as he let the mechs get close before slamming his hands together, the clap of his hands quickly drowned out by the deafening boom and the brilliant walls of the shockwave he had just generated, annihilating all the mechs who had thought they could surround him.

"_What does it take to stop this colossal asshole?_" One plaintive mobster shoulded as the gatling guns mounted to Brazag's shoulders spun to life and swept across the room in a glorious spray of munitions and body parts, the sounds of the weapons firing becoming nothing more than a single indistinct sawing noise. No one hit by the weapons survived even a second as they were ripped to shreds by rotary heavy machine gun fire and Brazag's chest cannon soon vomited a continuous stream of plasma to essentially melt its way through a collection of cars that the enemy sought to use as cover like the world's most deadly flamethrower. The brief stoppage offered by their kinetic and magnetic barriers didn't last, and even if it did the sheer radiant heat would have cooked them alive anyway.

A pair of shots from his twin wrist mounted dissolver beams swept across the room, liquefying flesh and armour around the rapidly disintegrating skeletons of his enemies as the beams took their deadly effect on them. The remains of their flesh glowed a brilliant green as they collapsed into glowing puddles, blackened skeletons making their last flailing motions before disintegrating completely as horrified screams were let out and then silenced by dissolving vocal chords, the giant taking a few steps more forwards before the other hand lifted itself up and gave the enemies of Epsilon a nice introduction to his supply of missiles, releasing streams of armour and metal ruining anti-inorganic "oxidizer" warheads that left the flesh of the victims alone but their armour, clothing, and weapons all rapidly grew incredibly brittle.

The sounds of war materiels cracking and breaking off into powdery shards dominated the room as Brazag's own planar shields (and chemical coating), kept the gas from affecting him as it worked its effects in about the space of a minute before fully disappating. Stomping out of the room, Brazag scoffed with derision as all remaining hostiles in the room found themselves naked and unarmed within ten steps; leaving them with nothing to their name to stop him from assaulting the doors themselves, his fists quickly crumpling the door inwards and tearing through the metal between him and his target.

"_Stand strong! We will not be bullied by these slaves of Yur-_" Venger said before Brazag punched his fingers through the door to grab onto the other side and literally tore the entire door, a large, heavy thing built much like an oversized garage door; out of its hingers and then lifted his hands upwards and pulled them apart, telekinetic power augmenting his own genetically engineered and cybernetically augmented strength as he tore the metal door apart with the most terrible of shrieking sounds from the sundered metal.

"_Prepare to be bullied nerds!_" Brazag said with clear and obvious relish, slamming his right fist into the open palm of his left hand and cracking his knuckles beneath his armour as he let out a deep and sinister laugh.

"W-what are you doing just standing there?! Shoot that abomination!" Venger said, the Salarian immediately pointing a finger at the genetically engineered horror barreling down the room towards him.

"_Yeah you want some of this?_" The hulking monstrosity laughed as his gatling guns roared to life on his shoulders; swiveling around to find targets while he charged into a heavy Mech for a flying tackle; the room shaking from the impact as the remainder of Venger's guards scattered. The large ACHILLES mech tried to pick itself up, the heavy hoplite esque machine straining to push the heavily built monster off of it to get its railgun into position and let the Venger flee. Or it was before Brazag got his massive mitts on the machine's head and squeezed until he heard it crumple beneath his grip, pushing his massive and armoured body up and tossing the head like a softball to bean a would be sniper in the head and throw off his aim when Brazag's early warning systems told him of the Salarian's intent to shoot.

"_If this is all you've got to guard you Venger I don't know why you decided to tick Epsilon off. You're either very stupid or very insane, but it sure can't be bravery by the way your legs are shaking right now._" He said with a deep voice as he casually punched a Betanax trying to guard his master into a bloody pulp with a single blow, kicking an aerocar into the path of Venger as he panickedly tried to escape only to the car's wreckage to slam the wall and block off his escape.

"_You have a lot of nerve smuggling weapons to those who would defy the great master Yuri you little frog. What attacks might you be responsible for, I wonder? Don't worry though, the interrogation will be gentle._" He at Venger and chuckled with a deep, evil glee as he charged with surprising speed into the southern flank of Venger's remaining guard, the mobsters and mercenaries hit flying in all directions; whether intact or in pieces as concrete cracked and metal crumpled before the forces that Brazag put into his charge.

Stopping and turning himself around, he hunched over once again, his thermal cannon lowering itself into firing position once more and opening fire with the roar and the hum of the air being fed with a lance of incredible heat. Venger was not harmed, but Venger was not the target; as the Salarian looked behind himself to see the squad he had preparing rocket launchers to hit the brute had been reduced to nothing but ash and dust. All that was left was some punk with a sword, Brazag figured him for a human of Asian descent, probably legion security based on the badge he had.

"_Hold on, I've got this_." The human said as he interposed himself between Venger and Brazag, immediately opening up with a biotic warp that made Brazag stumble backwards from the impact of the biotic attack, grunting a bit as he let his plasma weapons immediately stop the human's charge with a barrage of purple orbs of sunlike fury, making him stop with a hard motion as he interrupted his momentum with his biotics and tried to push himself away before launching forward with a biotic charge to slam into Brazag. Against a normal human, such an impact would have thrown them across the room, but Brazag was built like a tank and had a weight figure comparable to trucks; and many tons of muscle and steel could not be so easily shifted through such methods. The impacts of the human's short blade were barely registered through Brazag's thick defenses, and his attempted biotically augmented punch looked like it hurt the human's fist far more than it did Brazag as it struck him in the knee with a resounding "Clang!" before Kai Leng stopped to shake his hand and grit his teeth..

Pushing his telekinetic field forward, Brazag launched the human away from him, giving him some nod of respect as he managed to land on his feet. "_Kai-Leng do something!_" Venger shouted as the human cracked his neck and tried to figure out some strategy against the Night Terror. A snarl came from the human as he tried to quiet his boss to think. He brought out a gyrojet pistol from a hip holster and let out a few quick shots with the mass reactive warheads launched by the weapon, making Brazag Snarl as he flinched from the explosive impacts, rolling to the side when he saw the giant coming at him with a raised fist and barely avoiding a punch that could cave in the glacis plate of tanks and briefly slowed Brazag down as he had to rip his armoured hand out of the pavement, letting Kai Leng take out a grenade launcher and strike Brazag with a triple tap of anti-tank rounds, making the giant flinch and stumble as he used a biotic push to get the behemoth off balance, slamming him into a pillar and following up with an incendiery grenade to keep the pressure on his enemy.

Brazag however, was quick to recover and his cybernetics chemically compensated for his body's disorientation, letting him get up and swat the grenade to the side as Brazag reached his left hand forward and swiped it in a big arc to the right as the jaws of life esque claws on his gauntlets tried to carve his enemy open like a turkey, Kai-Leng to his credit being just fast enough to backflip out of the way and toss a magnetic electro-charge onto Brazag's helmet that made the behemoth stumble backwards as he flailed from the electricity running through his armour and into his cybernetics and body. Trying to capitalize on this opportunity, Kai-leng though of a way to eliminate his foe; settling on trying to get up close and personal with a series of small biotic charges and then make a charge towards Brazag's neck and get in a slash before using as much force as he was able to muster to slam the Night Terror into the ground face first and attack the thermal cannon he carried. He smirked as he figured he had a brilliant plan, and quickly put it into motion, trying to confuse Brazag's aim as his weapons tracked the would be biotic ninja and opened fire. He figured he had this one in the bag, but there was one flaw with Kai-Leng's brilliant idea.

Brazag was much faster than he let other people believe and his body was very quick to adapt as he telekinetically shunted the magnetic charge on him and moved to intercept his enemy, his movements quickly augmented by telekinetic bursts to bring his arms up and then down in an extremely rapid slapping motion to slam Kai-Leng into the ground with enough force to shatter and splinter the concrete below. If anything else of the mercenary broke, Brazag didn't hear it as he watched the human try to pick himself up, spitting out bloody teeth as he brought himself up on wobbly knees. "_Th-that all you got?_" He said with a bloody smile, trying to raise his weapon once again before Brazag just threw his right fist forward and upward in an uppercut that seemed to make Kai-Leng disappear. Not through pulping him, as his biotic fields and kinetic barriers were able to protect him, but through sending him flying fast enough to be all but a blur to the human eye as he went sailing through the basement and out the wall which thundered as it splintered and gave way to the soaring human projectile as he sailed across a street and crashed through a window into an empty warehouse and hit the ground with a wet thud, most of the bones in his body now resembling crushed gravel as he lay in a growing pool of his own blood and his skin rapidly discoloured from all sorts of bruises that the medigel dispensed by the remaining functions of his armor tried desperately to patch up.

"_Punk._" Brazag breathed out before turning back to Venger who was now shivering and shaking with terror at the armoured giant looming over him like some form of metal clad hulk. Brazag thought briefly, trying to remember where they were before they were interrupted and raised his finger once he remembered the point he was trying to make.

"_N-no! I wasn't behind anything! I'm just following orders! A figure in black, green, and red with the symbol of a black hand! He's the one you want! Him and some shady guy! Sounded Turian! There's some new Terminus warlord on it too! I think, I t-think the Batarians are in on it too! They're...they're planning something, I'll talk if you don't kill me! But I'll need protection!_" Venger begged, clasping his hands together as the enormous Night Terror stomped forward, putting enough energy into his steps to crack the very ground beneath them. Pft, pathetic really. not even some attempted vainglorious last stand.

"_Just following orders? I've heard that a lot. Are you sure you're not lying to me?_" He said as Venger screamed, bringing the stare of the purple lights in his visor right in front of venger, brightening the glow of the lit parts enough to cause Venger discomfort as he slammed his hands into the ground and brought his "face" just inches away from the Salarian.

"_P-please no, no I'll do anything! W-wait, w-wait I don't wanna die! Nooo!_" He shouted, all dignity and composure having evacuated his body.

"_Tch._" Brazag scoffed as he opened up the commlink.

"_+I have your man for you, I'll keep my eyes on him and make sure he's not going anywhere.+_" Brazag said curtly as the Krogan loomed over the cowering mob boss.

"_+We're on our way, good work Brazag, I'm very pleased with your performance..+_" Catalina responded simply.

"_Sit tight and I won't break anything of yours, like that twiggy little spine of yours; got it?_" He said with menace clear in his voice.

* * *

C-Sec Station

C-sec was busily rummaging through what was left of the apartment after the so called "Battle of Zendros". Thankfully, the building had been converted entirely to the purposes of the Platinum Rings and no one uninvolved had been injured or hurt, and the building had been secretly purchased by the Epsilon Inquisition's dummy companies to pre-emptively pay for any damages. Substantial evidence against most of the survivors had been collected, and the dead weren't going to be bothering anyone anytime soon. Catalina herself had decided that Venger had been kept waiting long enough and walked into the room where he was being held, Nihlus at her flank while the others were kept on the other side of the one way window to let the two start grilling the now fallen mob boss.

"_To be honest I expected you to go down shooting Venger._" Catalina said as she placed the datapad down on the table and eased herself into her chair; telekinetically pulling it a bit backwards to a comfortable amount of distance from the table as she laid her elbows on the table and laced her fingers together, her red eyes shadowed by the visor of her peaked cap and giving him nothing to study as her mouth remained fixed in a dispassionate expression to further reduce his ability to read her.

"_Especially with that much firepower at your disposal. You had enough hired guns to take over a small colony and were pushing enough drugs to put a whole herd of Elcor into a coma. To make it very simple Venger; you're screwed. There's no way you're walking. Not with all the data we've found on the computers in your little hideout and not with all the governments lining up to charge you._" Nihlus said, doing his best to hide the relish he was feeling in finally getting to close the book on the Platinum Rings Mafia, his intense stare clearly unnerving the Salarian as he fidgeted.

"_There might be some way we can...lessen your charges though. We can ensure that you will be kept safe in prison, no one will know who you are there and your former accomplices aren't going to be able to find you. But you need to do a little something for us first._" Nihlus said, replaying the footage captured by Brazag's cybernetic suit that contained Venger's confession to not having worked on this alone, the Salarian blinking and shifting his eyes from left to right as he tried to avoid the scrutiny of the Spectre and the Inquisitor.

"_Who was ordering you?_" Catalina asked, disguising her interest in the figure bearing the symbol of a black hand in particular. She was almost unnaturally still in fact, a product of her biokinetics giving her greater control over her body and allowing her to still and slow all the little twitches and involuntary movements a normal human made. Something that worked quite well in putting people off balance as she made herself seem almost unnatural.

"_I don't know...I never really got names for them. The Turian though...man he had to be loaded. He's got some cutting edge shit I've never seen before and the assets to carve out his own empire anytime he wanted to. Some Asari helps him run favors, I know what she looks like, but I've only ever heard the Turian's voice. She looked like someone who had seen a little wear and tear. He's got a ton of contacts though and his own army of mechs and mercs, so I figured him for some Terminus warlord._" He said, looking down at his hands as Nihlus pushed a plate full of tasty looking donuts, some dried meat much akin to Biltong, and a can of Tupari towards the Salarian expectantly.

"_Take your fill, we've got time._" Nihlus said with a surprising amount of warmth. In his decades as a Spectre, Kyrik learned that the thing that puts people off balance the most in every interrogation is unexpected kindness and friendliness. Perhaps not exactly ruthless, but it was very efficient. On his part, he had taken interest in the Salarian's description of the Turian, finding the described figure rather familiar on his part.

"_Thank you._" He said, taking some of the strips of dried meat first and chewing thoroughly before washing it down with the offered drink, letting the fizzy drink sit in his mouth for a bit before he swallowed.

"_This guy, I don't know who or what they are, they're always in heavy black armor and I'm not sure if they're using their actual voice instead of some modulator...looked human or Asari though...that guy gives me the creeps. They help set me up with the Turian. Now I can't say anything really concrete on them, far as any of the information brokers I know are concerned the guy's just a shadow...a wraith. They come and go and nobody's really sure what they're planning. I saw them with some guys in black and red once though...called each other "brother" and other weird cult shit, but it sounded like they had some issues so I made sure to not stick around._" He explained, gesticulating quite intensely with his hands as he spoke.

"_How are the Batarians and the...other Terminus warlord you mentioned involved?_ " Catalina asked. The mention of the Batarians as a whole in his moment of panic seemed to imply that the Hegemony was involved rather than some Batarian pirate group in the Terminus. That did raise a question though, why would the Batarians go about supporting a gang that interfered in Epsilon business? It seemed odd for her for the Hegemony to try and stir anything with the Dominion and threaten their trade relations, however much their goals for the Terminus systems and Attican traverse clashed at times.

"_There's this Batarian special agent guy. I mean, he never said he was a special agent, but with the kind of training I've seen out of him and the core of his crew? Yeah there's no way he was just some pirate or slaver. He's got a real issue with anything from Earth or Midgard, and that kind of hegemony ultranationalism? Yeah most pirates don't care enough about that kind of ethnonationalist shit. He's got his hands pretty deep in the underworld though. The Turian sets me up with muscle but he's the one getting me things like drugs and contraband to run for him. Keeps us both in the black._" He said, shaking his head when he got to his dismissal of the idea of the Batarian as just another mercenary lord.

"_And the Warlord?_" Nihlus said, tapping his fingers on the table at a slow pace and leaning just slightly forward.

"_Showed up maybe a decade and a half or so ago. They're new but they've got everyone scared. Nobody's ever seen them in person, but they've got hardasses like blood pack and eclipse running alongside them. Plenty of Crystal's Fury and Ex-Legion security types too._" Venger explained, seeming to really start digging into the offered snacks now as his mouth started to run like a motor.

"_And what are they getting you? Sex slaves to traffick? Illegal tiberium to smuggle? Prothean or Hyksos relics?_" Catalina said, raising her voice slightly to get Venger's attention through his rambling.

"_Mostly weapons. Some tib too._"

"_And what are they, exactly?_" She said, tilting her head slightly but noticeably to the left.

"_I have no idea. I've never seen them, and I've never heard anything in the galaxy that sounds quite like them. Nothing that talks anyway. There's always this...clicking when they call in though. Not mechanical, more like...some kind of vocalization._" He said right before he downed his drink, Nihlus passing him on another can of Tupari to the Salarian who nodded gratefully.

Catalina froze briefly as she heard something that made an odd clicking noise, and almost immediately demanded to see what files he had of the contact he had with the creature, doing her best to maintain her calm despite old wounds making themselves felt in her memory.

"_Sorry, the transmissions were self deleting. Standard operating procedure in case of capture._" He said apologetically, Catalina making the slightest of frowns as she laid herself a bit farther back in her seat.

"_And yet here you are opening your heart to us._" Nihlus said, rapping his knuckles against the table as he spoke.

"_Hey I know how you SPECTRE types work, if I don't blab now you'll just get some psychic to rip through my memory and get it later with a lot more pain and embarassment._"

"_I suppose that's fair._" Nihlus said as he stopped his table tapping and placed his chin between his index finger and thumb as he thought before standing up and motioning to Catalina to follow him, the inquisitor getting up and out of her seat as they approached the door. Nihlus' eyes briefly caught the Salarian raising a hand and his head snapped over to him immediately, his mandibles flared slightly as he awaited Venger's question.

"_So about my protection._" He said, Nihlus clenching his mandibles in response.

"_You'll be assigned to a distant high security prison anonymously. No one will know you're there for the duration of your sentence._" He said before he pushed Catalina in through the door and turned his attentions squarely towards the inquisitor.

"_Seems a little too easy doesn't it?_" He said, rather suspicious that his prisoner would be so willing to spill the beans when so many organized criminals he met were incredibly stubborn without psychic coercion.

"_I think at least one of them is trying to play us against the others._" Catalina said after thinking about the situation for a few moments. It sounded logical in her mind. It was...unlikely that they all had the same goal. At least one of them would be quite content to screw the others over to advance themselves. But who could it possibly be? She didn't think that Venger himself would have a tremendous deal more answers on his end, but perhaps looking through the collected evidence might be able to offer them some insight.

"_That's my thought too. Set up a dupe who'll talk just enough when he's captured to put law enforcement on the trail of the others. Doesn't seem like we have much choice but to play this game until we get some more answers though. The Alliance is probably going to want to hear more of this. I'm not going to promise you quick results. But we'll pull this spirits cursed tree of intrigue by its braches until we've gotten to the root of it, mark my words._" Nihlus said, giving Catalina a pat on her shoulder as she nodded in response.

"_And the Turian Hierarchy?_" She asked.

"_They've been itching for a fight for a while now. They're probably going to take batarian involvement in major crime ops on the citadel itself as the last draw to declare war._" Nihlus explained, expanding his mandibles as Cioban nodded in response, thinking a bit, though she wouldn't get too long to think on a response as she heard a door open, turning around to see a Turian in a C-Sec hardsuit, probably worn to make his point clear given that he wasn't in a combat situation, and bearing the rank markings of the commissioner of C-Sec and the facepaint of someone from Palaven, and immediately Catalina mouthed the word "rahat", or shit if one would prefer to translate that.

"_So it's not enough that you take my son along for the ride in your crazy black ops vigilante outfit but you've gone and squatted in my station, level a quarter of an apartment complex and work with the minions of Yuri eh?_" He said, Garrus immediately turning his head and for the barest moment displaying a look of dismay as Kayline stumbled in after him and his C-sec guards along with Joachim.

"_Sorry, I tried to delay them but I-_" She said before the Turian waved her off dismissively.

_"I am not happy Kyrik. And you Inquistor or Interrogator or whatever, do you have any idea of what it's like to get a notice of a suspicious purchase, find out it's by foreign nationals, then find it was ordered by Epsilon, and then find that it has the blessing of the spectres? Then there's the matter of your walking tank outside and your little urban rennovation program._" He said, his gestures and the expressions made with his mandibles quite clearly showing he was upset beyond what his restrained voice could manage.

"_We had C-Sec's cooperation with this._" Catalina said, remaining as impassive as she could even as her mouth twitched slightly with annoyance.

"_You could have let us handle this. We would have passed the information down all the same and saved me from having to cover after your hypnotized ass. I'm not going to file a complaint to your embassy, for all your antics it could have been much worse. But!_" He said, raising his finger as he said the last word with this particular breath of air and pointing it at Cioban.

"_Next time, I expect to be kept in the loop every step of the way when you intend to deploy that much firepower on this station. And I would like to have a representative at interrogations. Lastly, tell your giant clawed friend that he's not welcome at playgrounds. Who the hell is going to replace that spring rider?_" He said, Catalina nodding at his demands at first before doing a double take at his last sentence and stopping to check her EVA system, tapping to see a visual from Brazag as he awkwardly stood near a crushed spring ride at a playground that seemed rather remarkably deserted while C-sec guards stood nervously near him. A sigh came from Catalina as she internally lamented.

"_I'll pay for it myself._" She said with a defeated sounding sigh.

"_Now if you don't mind, the station's detectives would like to have a word with our prisoner. If you'll excuse me I have to go and talk budget with the Citadel assembly. And Garrus, if you aren't too busy playing black ops today, I'd like you to see me at the Wenron Cafe at six. I'd just like to sit down and have a chat, it's been three months, and I'd like to catch up with you._" He said as he backed off and stepped outside, his tone getting much softer with Garrus before he walked on out.

"_That's your dad?_" Joachim said once the elder Vakarian was out of earshot.

"_Look, we don't always see eye to eye but he's still family. He wasn't happy with me being picked for the Spectres but Nihlus and Goran made sure I got the training._" Garrus said with a small shrug.

"_Well, if that's the case...you definitely should see him at that cafe!_" Joachim said with a smile.

"_I was already planning on that, but thanks Joachim. For a brainwashed cultist you're not one hundred percent terrible_." Garrus said wryly to Joachim giving a big grin.

"_For the enemies of evolution, you guys aren't half bad._" He shot back, jovially training common insults between the Babylon Pact and C-Space before he and Catalina felt the psychic presence of Igor and turned to give him a quick salute, with Igor giving Joachim a small pat on the back and a smile in response; the two sharing a nod before he looked at Catalina, medals on his chest jingling slightly.

"_Cioban. Just the woman I wanted to see._" He said with a jovial, fatherly tone.

"_You're not also here to chew us out are you?_" Kayline said, getting a shake of the head from Igor as his peaked cap put the eyepieces of his initiate esque mask in shadow.

"_If he were here for that he would have started yelling by now Kayline._" Val Goran said as the diminuitive Volus came alongside Igor.

"_Hardly. Me and Anderson have made our decision._" He said, Catalina tensing in response and in anticipation. She was encouraged by Val Goran's comments, but feared the Turian's complaints about her performance. Would she need to wait for a year before she could undergo another trial to become an inquisitor? Was she even ready if he said yes. Cognizant of her mental state, she kept her thoughts hidden in a telepathic state, not wanting anyone to figure out how nervous she was.

"_Yes?_" She said with a hopeful voice, looking up at Igor as he took the time to adjust one of his medals for distinguished service before he responded, seeming to enjoy the anticipation he could sense in the room by the way he chuckled as he took his sweet time.

"_We will be recommending you to join the Inquisition. After your previous acts of service, uncovering this conspiracy against the path to the evolution of sapient life is more than enough for us to feel that you are ready to become the eyes and ears of the great master Yuri._" He said, his voice dropping its joviality and adopting a more formal, dignified air as Catalina visibly untensed with relief.

"_How are you aware of this already? The word has not left this room._" Samara asked, standing up from her meditative stance and fixing her eyes on the tall Lord Inquisitor as he let out a small laugh and gestured towards Squalork.

"_She has been my eyes and ears the whole time Justicar. Through her and my access to Catalina's EVA units I have been aware of everything from the start. Worry not, I have not touched yours._" He said as the Squid let out a warble in response, floating in the air and dragging her tentacles on the floor.

"_But the complaints from C-sec..._" Cioban said in a small voice before Igor laughed and shook his head.

_"Little things Catalina, little things. We will be departing tomorrow friends, I have sent word to the station to prepare an initiation ceremony. You can come if you wish...unless the idea of entering dominion space frightens you of course._" He said, grinning beneath his mask as Cioban almost stumbled from the shock to her system before she corrected herself and straightened up.

"_T-thank you Lord Igor._" She managed, spitting out the words quickly as she shook her head.

"_But of course little Catie. And remember, Yuri is Master._" He said calmly, all the Epsilon personnel repeating that little mantra as they filed on out of the room to follow Igor as he stepped outside.

"_Thank the spirits I can think without guarding my thoughts again._" Marcia said with relief as the Epsilonists departed from the room.

"_You're not going to take them up on that invitation are you?_" One of the C-sec officers said as two detectives made their way inside; an Elcor and an Asari who let out an "excuse us" as they shuffled into the room.

"_It would be rude not to._" Nihlus said.

"_But they're Yuri's bunch...you're not going to come back mind controlled right?_" They asked.

"_I've been to Dominion space pretty frequently and I haven't turned into a puppet yet. I'll be fine. Besides, I've known the girl since she was a child, it's only fitting I attend something this important to her._" He said to calm the officer down a bit.

* * *

Tepes Station.

After the usual procession of medal giving, it was finally Catalina's turn to be awarded with her honors. Coming along as observers were Nihlus and his own crew, who sat in the third row in the centremost column of chairs in the room as the crew of the Gremlin clapped once she was called forth to the stands. There, Anderson and Igor were waiting for her, Igor folding his arms behind his back and Anderson holding a box in his hands. The station was abuzz with a panoply of displays of faith in the will of Yuri and patriotism in the dominion that spoke of the path to paradise in heaven and in the material world. Like drones, the people were proclaiming their love of the inquisition and their happiness for another servant of Yuri finding herself another step on the path of ascension while the Arbiters kept a close eye on all the procession's guests and the station's populace. Harbor no unclean thought in this time of celebration was the phrase of the day.

The facilities to facilitate this promotion were grand, with enough space for thousands of guests in the auditorium and the central stage being flanked with enormous purple banners bearing the symbol of Epsilon itself. All along the stage were smaller banners bearing the symbols of each of Epsilon's sub-branches, Psi-Corps, Scorpion Cell, Headquarters, the Chaos Congregation , the Radiant Shepards, the Nox Inquisition, the Sigma Unit, the Adept of Arbitration, the Speakers of Enlightenment, the Sylvanian Order, the Temporal Brotherhood, and the Noble Convocation, the Masters of Plenty, the Charter of Gold, the Conveyors of Purgation, the Church of Blessed Missions, and the Army of Proselyzation; with the Inquisition's symbol of course, being the most prominent; the leering all seeing eye symbol of the Inquisition watching over the procession while screens alternated between displaying portraits of Yuri and the portraits of his inner circle as well as messages that encouraged one to stay strong in the faith and believe in the holy cause of the Dominion and the wisdom of those who guide.

Images of the recent glories of Epsilon were quickly put on display, as well as those of the life and heroic deeds of Catalina Cioban as she was awarded with deafening applause. Civilians deemed to have important connection to her personal life, thousands of school children invited to witness the ascension of a full inquisitor, military men, religious officials, corporate managers, and technocrats from the various orders of the Epsilon Dominion all joined in giving her the praise that the Dominion felt she deserved. Not just humans were present however. Quarians, friends and allies of the Dominion; were present in substantial numbers, as were Krogan. Uplifted animals and members of many species all filled the rows and columns. The ever present eye of surveillance was on all, and all heeded the urge to restrain their enthusiasm as they waited for the time to be allowed to display it. To break the decorum of this moment; of this little ascension of someone who had demonstrated their value to the path of transcendence, would be most unbecoming.

Garrus initially had a smart comment in mind, something about fascist technocratic cults, but he remembered he was in a room full of mindreaders and decided to keep quiet. Besides, he respected Cioban. Enough to remind Val Goran to stop trying to doze off unless he "_Want yourself on a very special shitlist_" with a prod to the Volus' midsection as he exhaled with a sigh as the clapping finally died down to a level where it was once again possible to hear one's own thoughts.

"_Man do I have to pilot a super-dreadnought before I get to have a ceremony like this?_" Jeff said, mostly to himself before his attention was drawn to Joachim giving him a noticeable "harrumph" as the messy black haired youth glared daggers through Moreau.

"_Catalina Cioban. Our great dominion has decided to recognize you for your accomplishments and welcome you into the ranks of our most sacred Inquisition. The duties expected of you are tremendous. The powers granted to you are enormous. But you have proven beyond all doubt that you are capable of handling both._" Igor said, Catalina smiling as she folded her arms behind her back in her dress uniform.

"_Catalina, you have demonstrated all that is necessary to be considered a truly great contributor to our dominion and the advancement of the society that we have built on the foundations of the Epsilon path given to us by the Great Master Yuri. Centuries ago, he lead us to the shining path against the misguidance of the Communists and the Capitalists both, and showed us a freer path than their democracy. When they doubled down on radicalism with and sought to seduce us with their "direct, radical democracy" and "economic democracy", we stayed true to the path of wisdom thanks in large part to our sacred Inquisition who kept us from straying._" Igor said, looking to the crowd and raising a finger as he spoke before looking back to Catalina as she nodded.

"_Now we live in an age where more people may seek to deceive us, where more may seek to hide what are not their secrets to keep from our prying eyes. We welcome you, Catalina, into the master class of our inquisition. No more are you the lost and shattered girl who clung to life in the ruins of her home. You are now strong, a woman of principle and of valor. Thus it is my great honor to call you Inquisitor Catalina, and my great pleasure for my long time friend David Anderson to present you the raiments of your office. Show us that yours is the will to power, and that through the power of our will and the great master's benedictions we can accomplish anything!_" He said, raising both of his hands to shoulder level with an upper cutting motion to incite the crowd to cheer as they shouted "_Hail Inquisitor Catalina Cioban!_" in one voice, with even Joker joining in on the crowd as they all presented the Epsilon salute. The observers from beyond the Pact's space, simply did their best to not look conspicuous.

"_Cioban, these are yours._" Anderson said as he presented to her her new dress uniform and her medals and emblems of rank.

"_Thank you Anderson. And my thanks to my brethern who helped me in my trial by fire and thanks to all fellow servants of Yuri. It is through our shared goal, our shared obedience to the guidance of great master Yuri and his disciples that we can stand here today as we walk the path of transcendence._" She said after taking them in hand, turning from her superiors to the crowd and smiling as she basked in their praise.

* * *

**Turian Hierarchy goes to War with Batarian Hegemony**

As the Anti-Hegemony war grows in scope and scale, the Turian Hierarchy has announced that it is finally declaring war. Citing numerous Batarian backed operations against the Hierarchy, the Turian Hierarchy has mobilized its fleets and armies for a general state of war against the Hegemony, being followed by the Betanax Empire and the Salarian Union in this action. With the depth of forces now deployed against the Hegemony, it is expected that the war against the Hegemony will end soon in a resounding defeat for the Hegemony which has only been joined in the war by a number of smaller Terminus states. However, critics of this forecast point to the stiffening resistance of the Hegemony and increasing counter-attacks into Alliance space and against C-Space attackers in the weeks since the Turian declaration of war.

**Dominion issues warning to Alliance, Confederacy, C-Space**

As the Alliance edges ever closer to the Hegemony's capital, the Dominion has warned the Alliance, Confederacy and C-Space as a whole that it will "take action to ensure the continued existence of an independent Batarian state" and has advocated a cease fire and a peace deal that it feels would be "beneficial to the health of galactic peace". The treaty it has proposed will call for the abolition of the slave trade, but is silent on the question of regime change, and also strenuously supports the continued maintenance of the territorial integrity of the Batarian Hegemony, which has lead to a rise in pro-Epsilon sentiment in the hegemony. Epsilon forces remain on standby, making it clear that the Dominion has no interest in a C-Space friendly hegemony on its borders.

**Mega-corporations found increasingly supporting Hegemony, Yahg Combine and Vorcha Pack Leagues move to support Hegemony**

Forces believed to be linked to the so called Phantom Syndicate have been found supporting the Hegemony in large numbers, as has financial assistance and technological aid from the corporations believed to be a part of this shadowy collection of primarily Terminus based businesses. Yahg and Vorcha forces have also moved for "war to support Hegemonical independence", with the former state reacting to Hierarchy motions for war and the latter likely moving in response to try and ensure that the people who supplied them with the means to uplift them into a longer, more stable lifespan; are not swept away by C-Space. This has lead to fears that we are already seeing a major pan-galactic war and has lead to the currently neutral powers to join Epsilon in trying to broker a ceasefire before the conflict escalates any further.

**Battle of Zendros leaves apartment complex totaled, gang annihilated.**

In a clandestine raid by C-space Spectres and the Epsilon Inquisition, the infamous Platinum Rings Mafia has been essentially decapitated in an annihilation of most of its best assets and its chain of command at the Citadel, with intelligence discovered at the complex having lead to the liquidation of Platinum Rings assets across the galaxy in a rare moment of cooperation by the Dominion's "Purple Bloc" and C-space. Following the battle which was reported to involve "With Alarm: The kind of heavy artillery you expect from a warzone" according to C-Sec Elcor Detective Lenneg Bristar and Asari detective "Mikeela Lagan" who lead the investigation; the gang has largely ceased to exist as its entire command structure was thoroughly annihilated. C-Sec officials and Galactic Police and Militia are still going through all the information to put everyone connected to the Rings to justice. In related news, Turian detective "Stablus" was reprimanded after furiously beating a suspect arrested from the scene of the battle upon the discovery of minor pornography on their omnitool. C-Sec Chief Kraagen was reportedly exasperated by the news.

* * *

Codex Entries

**Non-Council Species: Betanax:**

The Betanax were contacted in the year 2000 as they had finished a civil war within their own government against the secessionists who would go on to form the Warsoombian League after some three hundred years of prior space faring experience. Originating from the homeworld of Oravol, the Betanax are a somewhat Asaroid species with a bipedal gait and plantigrade legs. Most divergently from the Asaroid template however, is their possession of four arms, two small arms kept close to the chest for fine manipulation and two very long arms that extend to slightly past the knees that are useful for heavy lifting and striking. Betanax stand somewhat taller than Asari but shorter on average than Elcor, with males being noticeably larger than females. Entirely devoid of body hair, the Betanax prefer to express individuality through clothing and their voices and have complex aural senses as well as sophisticated vocal cords that are heavily utilized in their cherished traditions of singing and music making. A love of music has been recorded throughout all known Betanax cultures, and they believe that all life, even synthetic life; have songs unique to themselves.

Originating from a plains world, Betanax live for roughly two hundred and fifty years on average and reach sexual maturity at the age of sixteen and cease growing at the age of twenty five. Born in usually monogendered litters of about four on average and with most mothers having multiple litters to a number of fathers throughout their lifetime, Betanax have strong family bonds and families will tend to move together when possible or otherwise keep in contact when not. These family groups are rather more tight knit than Volus clans and include less of the extended family. Siblings will tend to join professions as a unit, if one joins the army then the others will follow. While largely harmless in the civilian sphere, the risk of wiping out whole litters at a time has meant that the Council has officially encouraged the government of the Betanax Empire to split siblings into several units after four sons of the Emperor died in a single battle. Strong and hardy, the Empire's commitment to keeping peace in the galaxy through strong investments of soldiers and funds to Citadel Peacekeeper corps and its potent military have put them on the fast track to becoming a council member race.

**Non-Council Species: Raloi:**

A Turian Client Race brought into the Galactic fold in the year 2200, the Raloi are a thoroughly avian species; possessing feathers, toothless beaks, large eyes, and a light body structure made for endurance and mobility. Relatively small by Asaroid standards, coming in at an average of one point four meters in height, Raloi are not particularly known for their physical strength. However, as they are already accustomed to thinking of movement in three dimensions due to their ability to fly, they are skilled pilots and some of the Hierarchy's most celebrated naval tacticians of the modern era have been Raloi. Raloi plumage varies in colour depending on the individual, from the relatively plain to the absolutely spectacular and plumage is a strong factor in what the Raloi consider to be attractive among themselves. Raloi tend to spend more of their time asleep than most other sapients, sleeping for an average of about twelve hours a day, and are accustomed to somewhat lighter gravity than is normal, meaning that they tend to require Eezo assistance to fly with full proficiency in heavier gravity worlds. However, they have amazingly efficient lung systems that allow them to seem almost fatigueless in comparison to other species.

Raloi have exceptionally keen eyesight, somewhat greater senses of hearing and a remarkably dull sense of smell and taste. This also has an effect on their preferred kinds of food. Raloi are incapable of tasting any of the molecules associated with "spiciness" and thus can safely ingest fruits and sauces that would cause tremendous discomfort to most other species, and have a preference for foods that would be considered to have more extreme flavors than would be typical of their meals. Raloi desserts are often considered almost nauseatingly sweet by most other species, and due to lacking enamel equivalent structures, the Raloi don't have the same qualms regarding the ingesting of sweet and the possible adverse effects on dental health that many other species would have. Raloi culture has also traditionally considered humor that makes others feel uncomfortable to be of the highest regard, though because they breed in pheromone based cycles, bawdy humor is largely unknown to them and they can have difficulties understanding the sex drives of species lacking in breeding cycles. This also means that the Raloi cannot ever truly find other species to be attractive without pheromonal aids.

**Non-Council Species: Eureklua:**

Originally from the planet Dawi, the Eureklua are split into a number of groups that dwell in most of the polities of the galaxy, with the largest being the Commonwealth of Ulozo, the Alliance population in the Federal Republic of Iystra, the Dominion Population and those who live in the Dominion Client state of Wukuwa, the mutants and the Terminus population of whom the largest portion live in the Terminus state known as the Zeinferri Conclave. With a fairly large population dispersed across the galaxy, the Eureklua have been spacefaring for some five hundred years and are some of the most markedly unusual aliens known to the galaxy. Firstly is their method of propulson; filling gas bladders with hydrogen to get from place to place, while little jets expel inhaled air to push them around as needed. Secondly is their morphology, as they are notably lacking in legs, having only two arms and having weak eyes; instead relying on echolocation to make their way around. The Eureklua are also notably quite large, being some nine meters tall on average which of course limits their mobility significantly and has lead to much of the Alliance and Dominion's architecture being much more spacious than a human would find necessary to allow for them to make use of public facilities. Eureklua can communicate with a deep and rich set of vocalizations and exhalations, and have some of the most complex spoken languages of any species that ranks among the hardest for any non-Eureklua to learn to understand (speaking them without mechanical aid is flatly impossible) and due to heavy usage of ultra and infrasonic syllables, it is only with special aids that all the nuances of a word can be understood.

Eureklua are an egg laying species that reproduces based on cycles signalled by pheromones, and the maximum lifespan of their species remains as of yet unknown, though they are ready to begin mating at the age of twenty and largely stop growing by thirty. Thanks to a significant size difference between them and most other sapient species, they typically preface the names of individuals of other species with a term that translates into "the small". However thanks to the relative fragility of their gasbags, they are actually more cautious than one would expect. Though with modern technological aids it is possible for one to procure an element zero floatation device much like the hanar to help them remain ambulatory until their gas bag heals. However, despite what one might expect from their lack of legs, they are actually quite formidably strong if perhaps mostly in shorter bursts, and can surprise many with the full strength that their two tonne bodies can bring to bear.

**Non-Council Species: Virtualans:**

Once known just as the Virtual Aliens, the Virtualans have digitzed the consciousness of their entire species to escape the The fate of their homeworld, now determined to have fallen to Tiberiformation. Brought on as a Turian Client State in the 2100s, the Virtualans' origins were a mystery due to the corruption of significant portions of their memory and their generally frightened state, but following human contact it was possible to piece together their actual origins some one thousand years behind them. Virtualans now, when feeling the need to emerge from their servers, typically download themselves into a facsimile of their old bodies. Moving about on tripodal bodies that hold aloft a somewhat crab like Trapezoidal torso, the Virtualans have five arms, with the fifth being more of a prehensile "tail"; and their long heads bear small mechanical mandibles and six bright optics where their eyes used to be. Many of course, prefer more exotic synthetic forms, but most for the time being satisfy themselves with mechanical replicas of their old bodies. Capable of "reproducing" in a sense by copying bits of their code and combining them with those of a patner's in a manner to create a new individual, the virtualans find themselves limited by the need to inform the bureaucracy of each new individual as well as the space on their servers and the need to educate and guide new individuals who by a quirk of the Virtualan systems, essentially starts off as an infant.

However, the Turians have found them quite useful for managing electronics and as the Virtualans are technically speaking, not synthetics but simply organics whose consciousness exist in a digital space they are allowed far more freedoms than any VI would ever be allowed. With C-Space's restrictions of transsapient technologies being relaxed to better compete with newfound rivals, new interest has been sparked regarding the Virtualans. Data regarding how they function and how they have achieved their status is being zealously collected to try and better understand why they are what they are and what can be learned from their experience, all in the hopes of advancing C-space society and technology as the galaxy enters a new golden age of scientific discovery and learning.

**Religion: Epsilonism**

The proclaimed "fourth Abrahamic religion", "fifth Dharmic religion" and "fourth eastern spiritualism" simultaneously; believing itself to be the inheritor and successor of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism; Epsilonism is the largest earth native faith by far, claiming tens of trillions of adherents and having the largest number of non-earth native sapient adherents. Epsilonism was first founded as a mystery cult by the current (and only) Supreme Heirophant of Epsilon known as Yuri sometime before the second world war during Yuri's employment by Joseph Stalin. According to Yuri's eldest disciples, Yuri himself never cared much for "questions of Socialism and Capitalism" and disdained everyone on the political spectrum from the Anarchists to the Fascists, believing them all to be equally incomplete in their understanding of the world. Privately rejecting the materialistic view of the world held by Earth's major powers, Yuri built up his mystery cult in the ranks of his Psicorps as he worked inside the Communist bloc and with agents in the Allied Nations to prepare for his own moves for power.

As the Soviet bloc advanced in the third world war, Yuri planted the seeds of his faith wherever he could until his ploy was revealed by the acts of Soviet time travellers. Upon this discovery and the Allies' surrender at the treaty of Paris to Soviet forces; Epsilonism changed its character into an above ground faith meant for the masses during the "Psychic Dominator Disaster" phase of the third world war. This great increase in the proselytization of the masses meant that when Yuri was defeated in the third world war and imprisoned in the past, there were more than enough loyalists to Yuri's cause to enact his rescue in the following decade and rebuild the foundations of Yuri's war machine in his reformed Epsilon Dominion, through which he successfully prosecuted the fourth world war to its victorious conclusion for Epsilon. In this stage of Epsilonism, the majority of its adherents were mind controlled to some degree as Yuri and his inner circle sought to keep the Earth under control until enough new generations had been born under Epsilonism to no longer require direct telepathic suggestion or control to ensure loyalty.

As the twenty first century progressed, Epsilonism increased the prominence of its transcendentalist beliefs as the core of its dogmas, espousing an "awakening of the mind, body, and soul" to achieve "ever increasing degrees of greatness in both spiritual and temporal realms". Part of this was the promotion of the development of psychic powers and genetic alteration as sacred practices to create a "more evolved and more perfect sapient being", and follow the examples set by Yuri and his Inner Circle disciples on the path to ascension. Tiberium and its usage were held as an integral tool to this ascension, to be carefully shepherded and manipulated so as to use it to empower humanity and other earth native sapients, though not to the degrees espoused by some divergent sects of Epsilonism. A strong desire for both self and communal improvement are integral aspects of the religion, as is the unshakeable belief that Yuri and his Inner circle are one part a messiah and his disciples and one part a pantheon of living gods around a godhead to be adored and worshiped as the divine saviors of the universe from the chains of ignorance and weakness and who shall guide all beings to the path of ascension from their mortal limitations.

The faith espouses a mixture of reincarnation and paradise based afterlife theories, believing that the unworthy will be made to reincarnate into stations according to their deeds in their prior life until they finally attain transcendence and break the cycle to exist as beings beyond mortal comprehension, and that Yuri and his inner circle descended from this transcendent state at the command of "providence" so that sapient life may be brought to this level and fulfill the purpose of this cosmos by surpassing "providence" so that they may guide and shepard a new one and in turn be surpassed in the quest for ever greater degrees of perfection. It also advocates for a number of far reaching philosophies to the approach one should take to how they should live life, how society should be managed, and how the world should be viewed. Compared to many other Earth native faiths, Epsilonism is largely quiet on issues of sexual morality and fidelity or on the likes of dress codes and gender roles, with Yuri himself being described as a man "without sexual or romantic desire" and his inner circle being quite variable in their desires, and the difference between the human sexes being seen as a largely irrelevant question as both are equally fit to ascend. However it speaks a great deal on politics, one's place in society, the responsibilities one is expected to hold, the approach to science and learning, and the duty of the faithful to bring others into the fold.

Aggressively evangelical and deeply tied to the Dominion which officially considers all adherents to be citizens, Epsilonism has a difficult relation with religious freedom and secularization statutes across the galaxy. Explicitly holding that the Dominion is the only true authority in this universe, the religion has found itself banned, restricted, or denied recognition as a faith protected by freedom of religion laws by many governments that see it as a destabilizing threat to the health of the state; including the Salarian Union, the Illuminated Primacy, the Turian Hierarchy, the Elcor Commonwealth, and the Alliance which considers Orthodox Epsilonism an "autocratic and elitist political vanguard party with a veneer of spiritual trappings painted over it" ; banning it under the same provisions that it uses to ban fascist, strong monarchist, neo-feudal, objectivist, and non-democratic socialist movements (or any other movement that would seek to concentrate power out of the hands of the Alliance's voting public and democratic assemblies and into the hands of autocrats, bureaucrats, technocrats, the military etc) from its assemblies. While it remains technically fully legal in the Asari Republics, the Volus Federation, and on the Citadel itself it is generally frowned upon. Still, it has found a significant number of new converts, who typically immigrate to Babylon pact space if they are from a state that restricts Epsilonism or remain to proselytize if they are permitted to do so and feel comfortable in doing so.

* * *

Author's notes: I decided to make the Citadel more than a bit bigger to suit my personal tastes for how a center of galactic civilization should be like. It'd be a bit disappointing if it were smaller than modern new york city population wise wouldn't it?

I've also added in some races to Mass Effect canon mostly to pad out the number of things like Terminus civilizations, citadel associates and Turian Clients. These include the BETA from Westwood's sadly underloved RTS Grey Goo (though the other factions all have their stuff cannibalized into the existing factions in this setting; the Alliance has Grey Goo human stuff, NEXUS has...Goo stuff, and the Scrin have Shroud stuff) but many of which have been made by me, largely based on Stellaris race portraits. Most of them won't feature in a particularly huge way or really much beyond casual mention but will help fill out the blanks so to speak. Particularly with some stock alien archetypes left unfilled by Mass Effect like non-Eusocial insectoids, reptoids (neither the Krogan nor the Drell really fit the bill), Floral Aliens, Fuzzy mammalians (I.E like the Wookies or Ewoks), primarily Subterranean Aliens, Fish like Xenos, or Fungoids. The Raloi, due to the later timeline; have also become a full part of the Citadel, and the Yahg have become spacefaring by now. The virtual aliens are also going to be getting a bigger role.

If you want a general list of what I'm drawing from it's the following: Mental Omega (2.0 and 3.0), Red Alert 3 Paradox (And Echoes, and Quantum and so on so forth from the fanwiki), Robot Storm, Project Phantom, C&amp;C Generals (and things like Rise of the Reds, Shockwave, and Contra), the Tiberium Saga (and more famous mods like Twisted Insurrection, C&amp;C Reloaded or whatever the mod that mashes up Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 is called now, and Tiberium Essence), and other Petroglyph RTS series, most primarily Grey Goo and Universe at War. This is sort of a love letter to the Command and Conquer and the wider Westwood/Petroglyph/EA LA fandom and all its given us over the course of the twenty five years since the release of Dune 2 in 1992. Though the series is in all likelihood, dead until the 2020s, I think we can all say we had a great time with it. This is also a loveletter to Mass Effect as a whole, and all the vastness of the setting we only ever really got to see snippets of. While I do agree that Andromeda's decision to move over to a new galaxy is probably the best way to deal with the...kerfuffle...of the ending and give us something cool and new to explore, I feel like I should give the Milky Way its own send off saga.

Catalina is of course, based on a combination of Femshep, Samus Aran (heroine orphaned by space pirates with a fancy, modular suit of armor with an arm cannon), general psychic tropes, Inquisitor Amberley Vail, some Rose Lalonde, and just a bit of fate/stay night Saber. Wolfgang hews more to Manshep, the three protagonists of Crysis, a bit of Ciaphas Cain (this will show more later on), some Captain America, and some of Optimus Prime (more his younger versions like Animated). Ultimately I couldn't decide whether to go with M!Shep or F!Shep so now you have two shepards going around. if you want to know what references I used for their appearances Catalina generally looks like a paler Samus Aran with silver hair and red eyes and a smaller bust and a somewhat more girlish face; Catalina's specific kind of ponytail is based on this girl's . , a Pesterchum OC played by a friend of mine that I interact with regularly. Yeah I'm trash I know. Wolfgang is basically Fate/Prototype's King Arthur with a more MCU Captain America build to his body.

For their armour, Catalina's blends Fate/Zero berserker's with Samus Aran's while Wolfgang's draws more from the GDI Commando in Tiberium Wars with some of the red alert 2 Tesla Trooper.

Also this is by far the longest chapter I've ever written for anything and I'm hoping to not have to write such enormous fuckhuge chapters in the future. I'll try and post smaller but more frequent chapters in the future.

Addendum:

So I've got a few plans for chapter 6 and some stuff already written for them.

I could post about the Alliance's operation chrono-storm assault on Khar'shan and Epsilon's intervention in the war, leading to a crisis and then a resolution and finding more clues about the ongoing conspiracy (the issue here is that Wolfgang already had his introductory chapter and this would be another very action heavy chapter after two of them and it'd probably be another 20k+ word chapter)

I could post about the negotiations after the end of the war that lead to the decision to form a multinational task force. Which would be a shorter and mostly politics concerned chapter but would feature little of Schafhausen and Cioban. It does introduce us to the Forgotten and Syndicate though.

Or I could post about the chapter where everyone gets rounded up to go on the big quest, though the weakness here is that it skips the introduction of the Forgotten and the Syndicate.

My initial thought is for idea two to be chapter six and idea three to be chapter seven, and post the invasion of Khar'Shan as a sidestory like how Peptuck's renegade had the Verge Wars and the First Contact Wars as side fics.

I also have a bit written for Saren's meeting with NEXUS and the attack on Eden Prime, but the issue is that it does kind of erode some of the mystery.

However going through the ideas in sequence is also fine, as the first idea has about twelve thousand words already ready for it while ideas two and three are only about 6.5k and 3.5k words in and four is about 1.7k words in. Under this scheme hunting Saren would have to wait until Chapter 10 so there is a certain appeal to just jumping to idea three.

Post what you'd rather me do in the reviews section. Also, if you want to see my writing process and get to read the snippets of the story (and thus not have to wait for the whole chapter), come here to the thread on sufficient velocity. threads/red-alert-mental-effect-red-alert-2-yr-and-mass-effect.10470/ Feel free to leave posts, though note you'll need to join the forum to leave comments.


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